From the Desk of the Poker Philosopher

The Ultimate Bet cheating scandal made the front page of Canada's National Press today. Citing the investigative work of 2+2'ers such as Cornell Fiji (Steven Ware), the article does a very nice job of explaining simply and concisely what happened and how without blowing the issue out of proportion or making unwarranted claims about online poker in general. Specifically, the article expresses concern for the credibility of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission:

Bobby Mamudi, an industry analyst and managing editor of the London-based Gaming Intelligence Group, said the new cheating incident is another blow to the reputation of Kahnawake's gambling industry. "They definitely do seem to be losing credibility and not doing too much about it," he said.

The article also includes more empty promises from the KGC:

Murray Marshall, legal counsel to the gaming commission, said that Kahnawake's regulation is among "the tightest in the world" and said similar frauds have occurred in casino gambling and banking. "We would obviously prefer to prevent all possibilities of this kind of thing happening, but no system is infallible," he said.

Tightest in the world? What does that even mean? How did the same shit get past them twice? Not only did they fail to identify cheating that amateur internet sleuths could and did identify, but to my knowledge there are no documented incidents of the KGC actually doing anything except for fining Absolute Poker after the fact. Their tight regulation hasn't managed to catch or prevent any malfeasance.

The article also raises the troubling specter of legal action against the online gaming industry by the Canadian government:

The federal government considers the 400 or so poker and sports-betting sites operating from Kahnawake to be illegal, but, fearing a confrontation, both the federal and provincial governments have been reluctant to intervene. Last March, however, an aide to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the government was studying ways of shutting down the gambling, possibly by targeting financial transactions with illegal Internet operators.

Let's hope that doesn't come to pass, and that future news outlets that cover this and other internet poker stories handle them with the same thoroughness and even-handedness that the National Press does here.

Labels: Absolute Poker, cheating, legislation, poker, Ultimate Bet

Stumble It!

Ultimate Bet released a press release today admitting that employees of "the previous ownership of UltimateBet" were responsible for cheating high limit players out of an unspecified amount of money, largely believed to run into the millions, thanks to "unauthorized software code that allowed the perpetrators to obtain hole card information during live play". In other words, UB employees could see players' hole cards and exploited this to steal quite a lot of money from high stakes players over the course of about two years.

The theft was uncovered through the collective effort of several 2+2'ers who were high stakes regulars at UB affected by the theft, most prominently trambopoline, dlpnyc21, josem, and also Nat Arem. 2+2 Moderator Cornell Fiji composed a thorough summary of what is believed to have happened along with the damning evidence that goes well beyond what UB admits in its press release.

In this new thread, Cornell is once again doing an admirable job exposing all of the deception in the press release. I'm not going to try to summarize it all, but basically it is at the very least a shameful lapse, and more probably deliberate negligence, that UB's security didn't notice any of this until 2+2's amateur investigators compiled undeniable evidence. If security isn't tracking win rates and investigating the play of the biggest winners in the biggest games on the site, what exactly are they doing? How is it that amateurs with nothing more than Poker Tracker databases can unravel this stuff, but a supposedly professional security team cannot?

Moreover, UB claims that it knew nothing about the potential for its software to be exploited in this way. But UB is owned by Tokwiro Enterprises, which also owns Absolute Poker, which was the subject of another scandal where a similar vulnerability was exploited from the inside. It's absurd for them to claim that they couldn't have anticipated this, and it's disgraceful that they either didn't anticipate it or actively facilitated the theft.

Nat Arem had a chance to question one of their representatives, but don't expect too much new info from that Q&A session.

Like Absolute Poker, UB tries to reassure its customers by pointing to its "regulatory agency", the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Aside from the gross incompetence (or worse) demonstrated above, there's another big problem with the KGC: Joe Norton, the owner of Tokwiro Enterprises, is also the former Grand Chief of the Kahnawake Mohawk tribe of Montreal! In other words, there is nothing independent about the KGC.

During his time as Grand Chief, Norton was accused of more than his share of shady dealings and corrupt bargains. Though members of his tribe accused him of being a puppet of the Quebec government, he also had a well-publicized (in Canada) clash with Canadian police and soldiers.

In a lot of ways, this latest scandal is very discouraging and disheartening. However, both UB and AP were eventually forced to admit that something had gone wrong and to return player funds that were stolen. This demonstrates the power of the online poker community to exercise some level of independent oversight over the sites where we play. Ideally, this will discourage other sites from trying anything shady in the future. However, if the only ramification for UB, after all this time and effort, is that they have to return the funds that weren't theirs to begin with, then this will not be much of a deterrent.

So what can we do? I've got some ideas, and I hope you'll offer others.

1. Boycott AP and UB. I never played on AP, and I've pulled all of my money off of UB. If a scandal like this doesn't bankrupt UB or at least crush their market share, then it will not be a deterrent to any future malfeasance by them or anyone else. I was probably one of maybe twenty people regularly playing 25/50 NL on their site, so hopefully my action will be missed, as will that of other high limit players who refuse to play there.

2. Stop endorsing them. High-profile players like Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth need to end their affiliation with UB. It is downright unethical for them to be encouraging people to play on this site. Similarly, Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy should be ashamed of himself for signing with them this week. He claims he was convinced of their desire to change, but based on what he's said publicly about this, it doesn't seem like he was especially well-informed about the allegations nor that he went to great lengths to question whomever he spoke with from UB's management. Then again, he is supposedly a pretty shrewd businessman, so perhaps he knows something I don't. But I think he ought to either say a lot more about why he has confidence in UB or stop encouraging others to play there.

3. Ask tough questions of other sites. I'm no expert on this, but personally, Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker are the only sites I'm comfortable playing on right now. Still, I think it would be best to get specific, public statements from them about the nature of their security, why their software is not vulnerable to the exploits that led to the theft on UB and AP, who regulates them and how, etc. UB and AP have been able to hedge, make misleading statements, and deny responsibility because in many cases they had not made explicit statements before these scandals about the nature of their security. As players, we should have a more explicit understanding of the level of security the sites will provide. There should be measurable benchmarks and pre-agreed ramifications for them if something illicit happens on their site. If 2+2 could create a Players' Bill of Rights or something, thousands of us could ask sites like Poker Stars, FTP, and especially UB to agree to it as a condition for our business.

4. Create a genuinely independent regulatory authority with teeth. Similar to (3), there should at least be an independent regulator whom sites could voluntarily hire to certify the security of their software. Then we as players could refuse our business to anyone who didn't pay for that certification. There's probably money to be made here if it's done right, and it would be a huge boon for online poker generally.

5. Legalize and regulate online poker in the US. Obviously I think this would be a good thing anyway, but as much as opponents of poker may try to use scandals such as this as arguments against legalization, I believe they are actually arguments in favor. Not that government involvement is a guarantor of legitimacy, but it's got to be better than the legal netherworld in which internet poker currently exists. Once again, there's money to be made here.

6. Spread a genuine understanding of the issue. Casual players have a right to know about the security issues at AP and UB, and its in our interest to have them playing on the more reputable sites where we are taking our business. At the same time, we don't want to be fearmongers turning the poker world off to internet poker in general. We need simultaneously to inform people that UB and AP are unsafe but that there have not even been any plausible suspicions raised about extensive cheating at sites like FTP and Poker Stars. I honestly feel that the risk of cheating on those sites is barely higher than it is in brick and mortar casinos and much lower than at underground poker clubs. However, I'll feel a lot more comfortable vouching for the credibility of those sites if and when some of my above suggestions are implemented.

Labels: Absolute Poker, Annie Duke, cheating, Full Tilt Poker, legislation, news, Phil Hellmuth, poker, Poker Stars, Two Plus Two, Ultimate Bet

Stumble It!

Yesterday was the first day of the 2008 World Series of Poker, at least for satellites and cash games. I won't be out there until July, as I'm only playing the main event, but I was excited to read on Daniel Negreanu's blog about some improvements to the facilities. Harrah's is getting rid of the tent and improving the food options, but I'm most excited about these two items:

Registration Room-remember the hectic lines leading into the Amazon room? Well, there is now a completely separate room solely dedicated to tournament registration. Probably the greatest change to the set up for this year's WSOP is the usage of space. Things are well spread out which should help in dealing with congestion issues in years past.

Color Coded Time Clocks-remember last year looking over at a tournament clock and not having a clue what tournament it's for? Well, this year the clocks will be color coded. So if you are in, say, the $1500 NL your clock may be purple, and if you are in the $2500 Omaha 8 it might be blue. Also, there are plasmas everywhere so you should never be in a spot where you can't see one. Lastly, the table breaking order will also be posted on these clocks!

The cashier and tournament registration cages created some really bad crowding and long lines last year. Lines backed up out the doors, clogging up doorways and making it very difficult to walk around the Amazon Room, especially when carrying precariously stacked chip stacks. It sounds like things will be a lot more spacious this year, with separate cages and tournament payout areas and a whole other room for satellites.

The color coded time clocks are a nice improvement as well, for obvious reasons. Posting the table breaking order is a great idea, as well!
Stumble It!

I like trying to bluff into multiple players. Not only do I sometimes surprise myself with the fold equity I have, but it's also nice for balancing my ranges and helping me to get paid off the many times that I have big hands in these spots. Here are two from tonight's session:

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP2: $2,916.40
CO: $492.60
BTN: $579.50
SB: $1,813.20
Hero (BB): $2,057
UTG: $1,002
UTG+1: $1,803
MP1: $470

Pre-Flop: 7 A dealt to Hero (BB)
4 folds, CO raises to $28, BTN folds, SB calls $23, Hero calls $18

Flop: ($84) 8 9 K (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($84) 5 (3 Players)
SB bets $49, Hero raises to $229, CO calls $229, SB calls $180

River: ($771) J (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $550, CO calls $235.60 and is All-In, SB raises to $1,100, Hero folds

Results: $2,106.60 Pot ($2,106.60 Rake)
CO showed Jd 9d and LOST
SB showed Th 7h and WON

On the river here I'm bluffing into two people, one of whom is getting better than 3:1 to call given his stack size. But based on the turn action and CO's stack size, I was very sure they were both looking to catch on the river. If CO liked his hand on the turn, he would have stuck the rest of his chips in. And if SB liked his, he would have done the same, since CO was clearly drawing and going to call. The Jc on the river missed all the obvious draws, but unfortunately my opponents had some non-obvious draws. That's the price of doing business.


Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $2,000
BB: $1,975
UTG: $501
MP: $4,509
Hero (CO): $2,895.50
BTN: $2,030

Pre-Flop: J 9 dealt to Hero (CO)
2 folds, Hero raises to $70, BTN folds, SB calls $60, BB calls $50

Flop: ($210) 4 Q K (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $175, SB calls $175, BB calls $175

Turn: ($735) 2 (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $550, 2 folds

Results: $735 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked J 9 and WON $732 (+$487 NET)


This one really isn't suicidal at all. BB never has a monster here, and SB could have 44 or KQ, but it's way more likely he's got one pair. I don't think either of them is going any further with less than two pair, and obviously I've got plenty of outs even if I am unlucky enough to run into a big hand (or a stubborn opponent).

Labels: 6-max, full ring, NLHE, poker, poker strategy, session review, short-handed

Stumble It!

During a short coaching session this evening, I touched on two kind of broad and complex theoretical topics. The student asked if he could get something in writing so that he could review them more closely, and I figured they might be of interest to everyone. So here's a paraphrase of two clever things I said about poker today (note to self: these would make good articles):

1. When you're concerned about getting bluffed, the best defense may not be to make a blocking bet nor to check and call. Instead, it may be to check and fold with the intention of checking stronger hands (or check-raise semi-bluffing) in the same spot. By mixing up your range in this way, you prevent exploitation without making a (admittedly marginally) -EV play.

2. When you have a strong-ish hand and your opponent has taken a strong or strange line that you suspect he could also take with many bluffs, semi-bluffs, and worse made hands, consider your relative skill, position, and information. The bigger an edge you believe you have in these categories, the more inclined you should be to keep the pot small so that you may take advantage of your ability to make better decisions on future streets. Raising or getting the money makes life too easy on your opponent by nullifying his disadvantages. Poker is easy to play from any position when all the money is in the middle.

By the way, as of tonight, I'm down to just one student and will be looking to take on a few more in the near future. I'll post more details soon, but if you want to experience gems like these on a regular basis, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at foucault82@yahoo.com.

Labels: NLHE, poker, poker strategy

Stumble It!

I just came across a hilarious photoshop thread on 2+2 called "If They Never Played Poker..." Here are a few of my favorite pictures; they should give you a pretty good idea of what you'll find in the thread:

Labels: humor, poker

Stumble It!

For those who don't know, Eric 'Rizen' Lynch, Jon 'Pearljammer' Turner, and Jon 'Apestyles' Van Fleet are working on a series of tournament books called "Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time." The first volume is now available for pre-order from Amazon.

There really aren't that many books written by successful internet players, so if you play internet poker tournaments, this will almost certainly be worth buying. And if you're going to buy it, please use my affiliate link at the right. It won't cost you anything extra, and I'll donate 100% of the proceeds to my non-profit organization, the Boston Debate League.
Stumble It!

My One Minute Recommendation: Kill Everyone is one of the better tournament books on the market. It will be most useful for those interested in big live tournaments, but the excellent section of the math of late game situations is enough to make the book worth buying for any tournament player. But hurry! Much of the focus is on exploiting current trends in poker tournaments, so the fish may wise up eventually.

If this review is helpful to you, please consider purchasing this or other poker books through my Amazon affiliate links. 100% of the proceeds go to the Boston Debate League.

According to their introduction, the authors of Kill Everyone set out “to marry poker math with real-time experiences to provide a sound approach to recurring situations you’ll encounter as you accumulate chips and approach the money” in poker tournaments. Although the book does contain a healthy mix of math and tactics, I can’t agree that the two are married. In fact, they are rather bifurcated: Lee Nelson writes largely about the latter in two sections of the book, while Tysen Streib focuses on the former in his “Endgame Strategy” section.

The Streib section is fantastic, easily some of the best poker writing I’ve seen and well worth the cover price in its own right. Nelson’s material is more hit-or-miss. He explains a lot of concepts and plays well, though many will be familiar to successful internet players already, and at times his presentation is distracting or downright misleading. On the whole, Kill Everyone is a solid tournament book, and even the “bonus” short-handed cash game section by Mark Vos is pretty strong.

Not only is Streib’s contribution excellent, it’s also especially valuable because it focuses on late game and final table play, where the stakes are at their highest. Central to Streib’s analysis are some concepts he calls CPR (cost-per-round, or the sum of the blinds and antes), CSI (chip status index, which, like Harrington’s M, tells you how many more rounds you can survive without winning a pot), and the bubble factor (a measure of the non-linear value of chips based on stack sizes and payout structure). His explanation of this non-linearity and quantification of how it ought to affect decision making is the most convincing and helpful material I’ve seen on the subject.

A wide variety of charts and graphs elucidate these concepts and demonstrate how to put them into practice. Because late game tournament play sees short stacks moving all in pre-flop, Streib is able to solve optimal strategies for shoving, folding, and calling that take the bubble factor into account. The techniques he employs, called Independent Chip Modeling (ICM) are extremely important for tournament players to understand.

Naturally, this material is of special interest to sit-and-players, and Streib’s section even includes a hand-for-hand analysis of an actual sit-and-go played by Juanda, Ulliot, Ferguson, and Ivey. I suppose there’s something to be said for the name recognition, but as good as these players are, none of them is actually a sit-and-go expert. Still, Streib uses their mistakes as much as their correct plays to illustrate important concepts.

Perhaps the most innovative portion of Streib’s work are shove/fold/call charts that incorporate empirical data on how small stakes sit-and-go players actually play. In other words, he details not only the game theoretically optimal solutions but also the best way to exploit opponents who do not themselves understand or implement optimal play.

Nelson’s material is more scattershot. It ranges from tight-aggressive (TAG) play to loose-aggressive (LAG) play to picking up tells to what to eat and when to sleep before and during a tournament. There’s some good stuff in there, but it’s not presented in an especially thorough or methodical way. Rather, tactics and “pointers” are blended with anecdotes and disparaging comments about “online players”.

Nelson’s first section is about accumulating chips in the early stages of a tournament. His overviews of TAG and LAG play are good, and he offers some helpful explanations such as why it’s worth raising speculative hands even when blind stealing is not an important consideration.

Key concepts here are Fold Equity and Fear Equity. The former should be familiar to most poker players, but it’s important enough to warrant discussion anyway. Nelson does give it thorough consideration, including an explanation of why and how fold equity matters even when you have the best hand.

Fear Equity is a way of getting Fold Equity. It refers to building an image of a tough, aggressive player whom other players will want to avoid. Later in a tournament, this is important for stealing blinds pre-flop and picking up pots with continuation bets.

Though much of this material will be useful online, Nelson is a live pro and his work generally assumes that context. For the most part, he is good about explaining the assumptions that underlie his plays, such as the important observation that on the contemporary tournament scene, all-in bets are often perceived as weaker than smaller bets. However, he also has an annoying tendency to make disparaging asides about “online players” as a group.

Unlike Streib’s heavily mathematical material, Nelson’s is grounded primarily in experience and anecdote. The author’s insistence on sharing these stories is generally more distracting and results oriented than it is entertaining or enlightening. When he does touch on math, he doesn’t always get it right. For instance, his consideration of the “5-10 Rule” (you can call with speculative hands for 5-10% of the effective stacks) is superficial and misleading. The rule rests on a lot of assumptions about an opponent’s range and tendencies that Nelson does not consider and that probably do not hold in his examples.

I do appreciate that Nelson references other poker authors both to support his arguments and to explain how and why his views differ from theirs. It’s unfortunate that so much poker literature insists on either reinventing the wheel or contradicting other well-respected works without explanation. This can leave inexperienced readers bored or confused. Hopefully more authors will take Kill Everyone’s lead and begin dialoguing with each other rather than pretending that they write in a vacuum.

Nelson, a retired doctor, also addresses a grab bag of other topics such as how to deal with jet lag, how to relieve stress and clear your mind, what to eat to keep your mind sharp during a tournament, etc. Those who appreciated Tommy Angelo’s Elements of Poker will find this material helpful, as Nelson is a lot more concrete in his recommendations and even offers some pharmaceutical and technological shortcuts.

The final section, penned by guest author Mark Vos, is surprisingly good. I say “surprisingly” because it’s all about playing with 100BB+ stacks, and Vos is notorious for short stacking the big NLHE games on Full Tilt Poker, where he’s a sponsored player. But he provides a competent, concise introduction to short-handed cash game play.

In particular, he offers some helpful tidbits that will orient tournament players unaccustomed to seeing a lot of turns and rivers. These streets are the trickiest for cash game beginners, but also the most important. Vos doesn’t have room to address them thoroughly, but the tips he does give should plug some common leaks.

Unfortunately, this section is much better on the 5-10 Rule than was Nelson’s. Though Vos recognizes that, “If the player is tight aggressive and skilled post-flop, speculative holdings lose a lot of value, because the skilled players seldom pay you off by losing their entire stacks,” he still claims that implied odds of 10-1 are good enough to call a reraise with a suited connector. It also would’ve been nice to see a more thorough discussion of board texture and how it affects what kinds of plays you try to make.

Though not particularly well integrated with each other, the contributions of each author are overwhelmingly good, and on the whole Kill Everyone is one of the better tournament books on the market. The biggest “weakness” of the book is that a good chunk of it focuses on exploiting currently popular trends and plays, so it may become dated at some point. But that’s all the more reason to buy it soon!

If you enjoyed this review, you might like my other book reviews or my poker strategy articles as well. And don't forget to benefit the Boston Debate League by purchasing your copy of Kill Everyone using my affiliate link above.

Labels: book review, NLHE, poker, poker strategy, tournament

Stumble It!

Sorry, forgot to post this before going to bed last night. If you haven't read it already, here's Part 1. I'd just won a series of big pots and was ready to abuse my commanding chip lead:

Grrrrrrrr Min-Raise

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 800/1,600 Blinds, 200 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 28,421
SB: 36,064
BB: 72,78
UTG: 22,033
Hero (MP): 205,650
CO: 77,975

Pre-Flop: (3,600) 7 7 dealt to Hero (MP)
Hero raises to 4,450, CO calls 4,450, 2 folds, BB calls 2,850

Flop: (15,350) 2 2 T (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 7,500, CO raises to 15,000, BB folds, Hero calls 7,500

Turn: (45,350) A (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (45,350) 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets 50,000, Hero folds

Results: 45,350 Pot
CO mucked and WON 45,350 (+25,700 NET)

Even if I was good on the flop, that Ace is a killer. Then again, I didn't expect the guy to overbet Aces or T's up on the river, so I was tempted to call. But really those overbets are strong no matter how little sense they make. Honestly I think it's more likely he had AA or TT than a bluff.


Blocking Bet

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 500/1,000 Blinds, 125 Ante, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 44,322
BTN: 22,992
Hero (SB): 155,277
BB: 16,022
UTG: 76,995

Pre-Flop: (2,125) 6 6 dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to 2,550, CO calls 2,550, BTN folds, Hero calls 2,050, BB calls 1,550

Flop: (10,825) 5 T 3 (4 Players)
Hero bets 6,602, 2 folds, CO calls 6,602

Turn: (24,029) T (2 Players)

Hero checks, CO bets 1,450, Hero calls 1,450

River: (26,929) Q (2 Players)
Hero bets 4,550, CO raises to 21,500, Hero folds

Results: 36,029 Pot
CO mucked and WON 36,029 (+20,752 NET)

I was so ready to be done with this hand when I was called on the flop (that's why I led the flop), but then the T paired and I felt obligated to peel for that tiny bet. Since I was going to call another dinky little bet anyway, I decided to make it myself. I'm pretty sure this player wasn't capable of bluff raising in this spot, so it seemed like a good time to make a rare blocking bet. So much for running the table over.


Gutshot No Good

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,000/2,000 Blinds, 250 Ante, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 30,071
UTG: 75,080
CO: 19,433
Hero (BTN): 186,850
SB: 131,489

Pre-Flop: (4,250) Q K dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, Hero raises to 5,100, SB folds, BB calls 3,100

Flop: (12,450) 5 K 3 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 6,500, BB raises to 24,721 and is All-In, Hero calls 18,221

Turn: (61,892) 5 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (61,892) 5 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 61,892 Pot
BB showed 6 7 (three of a kind, Fives) and LOST (-30,071 NET)
Hero showed Q K (a full house, Fives full of Kings) and WON 61,892 (+31,821 NET)

After this, I got away with a few steals but eventually lost a sizable pot when my 75s was priced in against AK and couldn't hold. Then I lost a big one to an ill-conceived river bluff:

Bad River Bluff

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,200/2,400 Blinds, 300 Ante, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 84,128
SB: 113,566
BB: 151,117
Hero (UTG): 189,911
CO: 139,322

Pre-Flop: (5,100) 7 8 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to 7,111, 2 folds, SB calls 5,911, BB folds

Flop: (18,122) 2 5 5 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (18,122) A (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 10,000, SB calls 10,000

River: (38,122) K (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 25,000, SB calls 25,000

Results: 88,122 Pot
SB showed J A (two pair, Aces and Fives) and WON 88,122 (+45,711 NET)
Hero showed 7 8 (a pair of Fives) and LOST (-42,411 NET)

I'm trying to get him off of a pocket pair here, but there are so many more Ax combinations that he's never folding in his range than there are pairs. Not that you can tell it from this hand, but I definitely felt I had an edge on even the better tournament players when stacks were deep. I was fortunate, then, to be at a table with so many 100K+ stacks. It's always great to have a big stack, of course, but having other slightly smaller ones at your table enables you to take the most advantage of it by pressuring them, winning the maximum when you have a great spot, and all around pushing your edge (assuming you have one).

That's More Like It

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,200/2,400 Blinds, 300 Ante, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 76,728
UTG: 163,777
CO: 146,617
Hero (BTN): 154,900
SB: 136,022

Pre-Flop: (5,100) J T dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG raises to 5,977, CO folds, Hero raises to 16,000, 2 folds, UTG calls 10,023

Flop: (37,100) 2 A 6 (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets 21,000, UTG folds

Results: 37,100 Pot
Hero mucked J T and WON 37,100 (+20,800 NET)

I tried for a steal with 98s and some short stack decided it would be a good idea to shove K5s at me with no fold equity. He was right. So I needed another 3-bet bluff to get those chips back:

Another 3-Bet Bluff

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,400/2,800 Blinds, 350 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 187,454
BB: 120,272
UTG: 241,800
MP: 153,344
Hero (CO): 164,728
BTN: 186,456

Pre-Flop: (6,300) J K dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, MP raises to 7,000, Hero raises to 19,378

Results: 20,300 Pot
Hero mucked J K and WON 20,300 (+12,950 NET)

Eventually, though, the aggressive 3-betting got me into trouble with Phat Cat, who's a top ranked player on Pocket Fives:

Can't Win 'Em All

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,400/2,800 Blinds, 350 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 177,604
UTG: 127,322
MP: 215,000
CO: 142,516
Hero (BTN): 182,556
SB: 209,056

Pre-Flop: (6,300) 3 A dealt to Hero (BTN)
MP raises to 8,650, 2 folds, Hero raises to 22,222, SB folds, MP calls 13,572

Flop: (50,744) 4 8 K (2 Players)
MP checks, Hero bets 24,984, MP calls 24,984

Turn: (100,712) 8 (2 Players)
MP bets 42,444, Hero folds

Results: 100,712 Pot
MP mucked and WON 100,712 (+53,156 NET)

Two hands later, I decided not to let supreme LAGtard busto_soon abuse my atrocious image:

Don't 3-Bet Me

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,400/2,800 Blinds, 350 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 172,704
SB: 119,622
BB: 267,806
UTG: 152,316
Hero (MP): 134,650
CO: 206,956

Pre-Flop: (6,300) 4 4 dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 7,800, CO folds, BTN raises to 19,200, 2 folds, Hero calls 11,400

Flop: (44,700) 7 5 K (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 25,000, Hero raises to 115,100 and is All-In, BTN folds

Results: 94,700 Pot
Hero mucked 4 4 and WON 94,700 (+50,150 NET)


Please, son. The 5/10 NL 6-Max games have taught me a thing or two about playing back at light 3-bets, thanks. I was pretty sure he was full of it pre-flop, but even if he did have a hand, it's really tough for him to have one that's happy with this flop. Unless he paired the K, I think he's folding here. If he has something like QQ, I would imagine he's not betting the flop, so I was expecting him to fold everything worse than top pair that he was betting. That could include some lower pocket pairs like 88. For what it's worth, I would also play AA like this, and possibly KQs/KJs, but that's about it for made hands. Thankfully he didn't realize that, or couldn't do anything about it. I mean even if he did figure that out, what's he gonna do, call me with AQ?

Stubborn

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,700/3,400 Blinds, 400 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 209,008
MP: 143,422
CO: 293,656
BTN: 153,566
Hero (SB): 154,200
BB: 100,202

Pre-Flop: (7,500) 9 A dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, MP raises to 7,200, 2 folds, Hero calls 5,500, BB folds

Flop: (20,200) 7 Q A (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP bets 11,500, Hero calls 11,500

Turn: (43,200) 4 (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP bets 31,500, Hero calls 31,500

River: (106,200) Q (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP checks

Results: 106,200 Pot
MP showed A 7 (two pair, Aces and Queens) and LOST (-50,600 NET)
Hero showed 9 A (two pair, Aces and Queens) and WON 106,200 (+55,600 NET)

Man, tournament players just don't seem to double barrel bluff very often at all. This one was against HisXLNC, who from what I know is a pretty decent regular. I was giving him credit for recognizing that there are very few strong Aces or better in my range and being able to fire two barrels in a good spot, but naturally he flopped two pair. Too bad I rivered two pair with a better kicker! I am pretty much always wrong when I decide to be a hero.


Don't Steal My Button!

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 2,000/4,000 Blinds, 500 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 196,408
UTG: 54,922
MP: 300,212
CO: 225,616
Hero (BTN): 195,950
SB: 80,946

Pre-Flop: (9,000) K T dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, CO raises to 9,550, Hero raises to 24,450, 3 folds

Results: 28,100 Pot
Hero mucked K T and WON 28,100 (+18,050 NET)

So far, so good, and we're getting down to the last couple of tables. Blinds are huge now and even a big stack doesn't leave me all that much room for error. Check in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!

Labels: NLHE, poker, poker strategy, session review, tournament

Stumble It!

This is the third and final part in my review of a recent final table finish in the FTP $100 rebuy 6-max weekly tournament last Wednesday. If you haven't already, check out Part 1 and Part 2.

We were down to the final few tables, and at this point in the tournament, failed steals were costing me 10K a pop. Therefore, I was happy to pick off HisXLNC's 11BB button shove with AJ, which held against his A2. Then the pesky little monkey who'd been shoving on me the most refused to oblige when I wanted it:

Where Are You When I Need You?

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 2,000/4,000 Blinds, 500 Ante, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 179,908
BTN: 273,000
Hero (SB): 244,710
BB: 141,870

Pre-Flop: (8,000) J J dealt to Hero (SB)

UTG folds, Hero raises to 12,000, BB calls 8,000

Flop: (26,000) K 6 2 (2 Players)

Hero checks, BB bets 16,000, Hero calls 16,000

Turn: (58,000) 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets 26,210

Results: 58,000 Pot
Hero mucked J J and WON 58,000 (+29,500 NET)

This check-call flop and lead turn line isn't one I take often, but I thought it made sense here. I didn't see myself getting value from a lot of worse hands by leading at this flop, so I went for the check and call. But when the third club got there, I didn't want my opponent to check it through and either bluff or win the pot if a fourth club got there, so I led out. Against this opponent, I was comfortable folding if he shoved over that lead. I can't promise that this will work as well against more aggressive players.

I'm going to call this guy Pest. Remember him, because he continues to nettle me for the rest of the tournament.

Taken to Valuetown

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 2,500/5,000 Blinds, 600 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 160,031
SB: 145,488
BB: 277,041
UTG: 232,356
Hero (MP): 343,036
CO: 107,180

Pre-Flop: (11,100) 8 A dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 12,436, CO folds, BTN calls 12,436, 2 folds

Flop: (35,972) 3 8 J (2 Players)
Hero bets 20,000, BTN calls 20,000

Turn: (75,972) 6 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (75,972) 2 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 42,000, Hero calls 42,000

Results: 159,972 Pot
BTN showed J 9 (a pair of Jacks) and WON 159,972 (+84,936 NET)
Hero mucked 8 A (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-75,036 NET)


Villain here was busto_soon. For a lot of people, that pre-flop call for nearly 10% of their stack is going to be a monster, but I was pretty sure that wasn't the case here. Frankly, I'd be very surprised if he could show a profit with this call pre-flop. But after that, I must admit, I got outplayed.

It was just poor hand reading on my part. When he calls the flop, I guess he can still have a wide range. He could have a pair, T9, or maybe a weaker draw that was floating me. But when he declines to bluff the turn, I think he pretty much always has a pair. That means he's not going to be bluffing the river, and I have to decide whether I beat his value betting range. I doubt he's calling like pre-flop, so am I hoping he's value betting T8/98? If he is, which I doubt, then he'd be value betting 99 and TT as well, so I really don't think I can call river even for half pot. I was pretty upset with myself for paying that off.

LOL Weak Lead

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 3,000/6,000 Blinds, 750 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 243,467
MP: 140,888
CO: 251,941
BTN: 295,756
Hero (SB): 228,000
BB: 105,080

Pre-Flop: (13,500) 7 7 dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, CO raises to 16,191, BTN folds, Hero calls 13,191, BB folds

Flop: (42,882) 3 6 3 (2 Players)
Hero bets 25,059, CO raises to 75,000, Hero raises to 211,059 and is All-In, CO folds

Results: 192,882 Pot
Hero mucked 7 7 and WON 192,882 (+100,941 NET)

If I recall correctly, this one was against Phat Cat. I think that leading into the raiser on a really dry board like this is usually interpreted as a probe bet or steal. I was hoping either to induce a bluff raise or just to prevent him from checking it back with two overcards, if he realizes that I'm folding very little of my SB calling range to a c-bet on this flop. Once he raises, I jam just to protect my hand. I don't expect him to call with worse, but he probably wont' keep bluffing either, so I don't want to give him any free cards. If I'm beat, I'm beat.

The Pest

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 3,000/6,000 Blinds, 750 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 235,967
BB: 139,388
UTG: 159,250
MP: 294,256
Hero (CO): 344,691
BTN: 91,580

Pre-Flop: (13,500) Q K dealt to Hero (CO)
2 folds, Hero raises to 15,441, BTN raises to 90,830 and is All-In, 2 folds, Hero calls 75,389

Flop: (195,160) 6 T A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (195,160) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (195,160) 5 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 195,160 Pot
Hero showed Q K (Ace King high) and LOST (-91,580 NET)
BTN showed A 2 (two pair, Aces and Twos) and WON 195,160 (+103,580 NET)

I've been back and forth on whether I think this is a good jam by him. I guess it probably is, because I was opening a ton from late position. Sucks that I lost even after picking up so many outs on the flop.

With about 10 players left, I was in the middle pack. I really like to ramp up the aggression on the final table bubble. I shoved QJ on my BB into a raise from Phat Cat on the Button, who doubled through me with AK. That left me short, but after a few successful open shoves, the SB shoved into my JJ with 44 and doubled me back up.

Big Draw Passively

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 4,000/8,000 Blinds, 1,000 Ante, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 267,637
BTN: 334,250
SB: 269,640
Hero (BB): 178,186

Pre-Flop: (16,000) K 6 dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, SB raises to 16,000, Hero calls 8,000

Flop: (36,000) A 8 4 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (36,000) 5 (2 Players)
SB bets 20,000, Hero calls 20,000

River: (76,000) 2 (2 Players)
SB bets 40,000, Hero folds

Results: 76,000 Pot
SB mucked and WON 76,000 (+39,000 NET)

I hate having to play a draw passively with such a short stack, but I was getting a good price on the turn and didn't think a raise would make any sense. Maybe I'm overestimating my opponent's ability to call down with less than top pair, though.

I got back in the hunt by shoving JT over a SB raise and sucking out on AK. That may even have given me the chiplead. A re-steal with KJ won me some more chips, then I open limped TT in my SB to trap the very aggressive Stamdogg in the BB. The plan worked, except that his AT flopped an A and instead I was short again. Thankfully I outflipped him a few hands later by restealing QTs and beating his 77. Then I busted him with AQ > AT to re-capture the chip lead just in time for the final table.

First Pot at Final Table

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 8,000/16,000 Blinds, 2,000 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: 408,835
CO: 356,056
BTN: 262,789
SB: 542,592
Hero (BB): 564,637
UTG: 246,091

Pre-Flop: (36,000) J Q dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, MP raises to 40,009, 3 folds, Hero calls 24,009

Flop: (100,018) T 3 J (2 Players)

Hero checks, MP bets 55,999, Hero raises to 522,628 and is All-In, MP calls 310,827 and is All-In

Turn: (833,670) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (833,670) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 833,670 Pot
MP showed A A (two pair, Aces and Threes) and WON 833,670 (+424,835 NET)
Hero showed J Q (two pair, Jacks and Threes) and LOST (-408,835 NET)

This one was against the Pest. The size and timing of his flop bet was suspicious, but I did have OMGTOPPAIR! I felt like jamming was the best way to represent a wider range, since there were a lot of draws out there. Not that it mattered, against AA. One time, dealer?

Two hands later, it was my button and I had like 80K, so I open shoved 96o. The Pest was now in the lead and called with Q9 on his BB, but I sucked out to double up. After an unsuccessful steal, I shoved AK over a SB raise and got called by KT. Unfortunately he hit and busted me in 5th.

So that was that. Tournaments still infuriate me, though this relatively deep-stacked 6-max game was a lot of fun. Hopefully you found these hands as interesting as I did.

Labels: NLHE, poker, poker strategy, session review, tournament

Stumble It!

I had a bunch of interesting hands from my final table run in the FTP $100 rebuy 6-max last night. Over the next few days, I'm going to post them here along with my analysis. Skipping the not-very-interesting rebuy period, here's Part 1.

I was only in for $309, but I came out of the rebuy period with barely more than the chips I paid for. I chipped up mostly through winning a few key coin flips. Here's the first really interesting hand I played:

Tough TTs

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds, 25 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 17,448
BTN: 11,954
Hero (SB): 20,373
BB: 8,109
UTG: 3,146
MP: 20,820

Pre-Flop: (510) T T dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, MP raises to 720, CO raises to 1,995, BTN folds, Hero raises to 3,777, 2 folds, CO calls 1,782

Flop: (8,664) Q 8 7 (2 Players)
Hero bets 5,571, CO folds

Results: 8,664 Pot
Hero mucked T T and WON 8,664 (+4,862 NET)

The first two players in the pot are both very aggressive, and my TT figures to be ahead. I don't want to commit my whole stack, but I do want to get it heads up or win it immediately. I'm folding to a flop shove.

Bink

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds, 25 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 24,928
BTN: 3,065
SB: 20,761
Hero (BB): 27,765
UTG: 18,117
MP: 9,380

Pre-Flop: (510) Q K dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to 660, 4 folds, Hero calls 420

Flop: (1,590) J 9 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets 950, Hero calls 950

Turn: (3,490) 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets 2,130, UTG calls 2,130

River: (7,750) T (2 Players)
Hero bets 5,000, UTG calls 5,000

Results: 17,750 Pot
Hero showed Q K (a straight, King high) and WON 17,750 (+8,985 NET)
UTG mucked A J (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-8,765 NET)


Stole some blinds, folded to a few resteals, then snapped one off with AA.


They Never Believe Me

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 250/500 Blinds, 50 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 25,417
MP: 14,223
CO: 18,396
Hero (BTN): 50,745
SB: 11,880
BB: 18,871

Pre-Flop: (1,050) 9 T dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to 1,195, SB calls 945, BB calls 695

Flop: (3,885) 9 6 9 (3 Players)
SB bets 2,255, BB folds, Hero raises to 49,500 and is All-In, SB calls 8,380 and is All-In

Turn: (25,155) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (25,155) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 25,155 Pot
Hero showed 9 T (three of a kind, Nines) and WON 25,155 (+13,275 NET)
SB showed 8 8 (two pair, Nines and Eights) and LOST (-11,880 NET)


Set Over Set

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 300/600 Blinds, 75 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: 25,242
CO: 11,098
BTN: 20,671
Hero (SB): 61,175
BB: 30,547
UTG: 13,621

Pre-Flop: (1,350) 8 8 dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to 1,200, 2 folds, BTN calls 1,200, Hero calls 900, BB calls 600

Flop: (5,250) 4 8 7 (4 Players)
Hero bets 3,400, BB calls 3,400, 2 folds

Turn: (12,050) Q (2 Players)
Hero bets 9,000, BB raises to 25,872 and is All-In, Hero calls 16,872

River: (63,794) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 63,794 Pot
Hero showed 8 8 (three of a kind, Eights) and WON 63,794 (+33,247 NET)
BB showed 4 4 (three of a kind, Fours) and LOST (-30,547 NET)


Dumb

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 400/800 Blinds, 100 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 20,442
UTG: 13,897
MP: 16,071
Hero (CO): 92,800
BTN: 41,697
SB: 23,442

Pre-Flop: (1,800) 8 A dealt to Hero (CO)
2 folds, Hero raises to 2,200, BTN calls 2,200, 2 folds

Flop: (6,200) 5 T 6 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (6,200) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (6,200) 8 (2 Players)
Hero bets 3,000, BTN raises to 8,800, Hero calls 5,800

Results: 23,800 Pot
Hero mucked 8 A 8 A (two pair, Tens and Eights) and LOST (-11,100 NET)
BTN showed Q K (a flush, King high) and WON 23,800 (+12,700 NET)

I really just couldn't see him checking a flush draw twice. I was hoping he was just doing something spazzy, but really this is a bad call.

After a few orbits of stealing, some successful and some not, my 53s held against a short stack's AT to give me some chips. Then I got KK and despite an A flopping I held in a 3-way pot (one player was all in, and we checked it down).


Failed Slowplay

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 500/1,000 Blinds, 125 Ante, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 62,147
SB: 27,742
Hero (BB): 104,371
UTG: 50,297
CO: 44,445

Pre-Flop: (2,125) 9 T dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to 3,000, 3 folds, Hero calls 2,000

Flop: (7,125) T T 6 (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets 7,125, Hero calls 7,125

Turn: (21,375) 2 (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

River: (21,375) 2 (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

Results: 21,375 Pot
Hero showed 9 T (a full house, Tens full of Twos) and WON 21,375 (+11,125 NET)
UTG showed 3 6 (two pair, Tens and Sixes) and LOST (-10,250 NET)

I played this pretty weird, but I really didn't think he had anything at all. I can value-bet non-heart rivers, but here I didn't think he'd call with many made hands anyway, so i thought my best bet would be to induce a bluff. Hard to say whether he would have gone further with this hand.


Misclick

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 500/1,000 Blinds, 125 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 29,344
BTN: 53,122
SB: 23,492
Hero (BB): 112,133
UTG: 18,272
MP: 79,245

Pre-Flop: (2,250) 7 8 dealt to Hero (BB)
3 folds, BTN raises to 2,800, SB folds, Hero calls 1,800

Flop: (6,850) 8 3 5 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 4,000, Hero raises to 8,000, BTN calls 4,000

Turn: (22,850) Q (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (22,850) 6 (2 Players)

Hero checks, BTN checks

Results: 22,850 Pot
BTN mucked 8 T (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-10,925 NET)
Hero showed 7 8 (a flush, Queen high) and WON 22,850 (+11,925 NET)

I meant to raise more on the flop. With top pair and a club, I'm willing to get the money in. Two hands later I busted FU_15:


Drilled It

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 500/1,000 Blinds, 125 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 29,094
MP: 42,072
CO: 24,992
Hero (BTN): 123,433
SB: 17,022
BB: 78,995

Pre-Flop: (2,250) K Q dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG raises to 2,488, 2 folds, Hero calls 2,488, 2 folds

Flop: (7,226) 2 5 7 (2 Players)
UTG bets 4,678, Hero calls 4,678

Turn: (16,582) 2 (2 Players)
UTG bets 21,803 and is All-In, Hero calls 21,803

River: (60,188) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 60,188 Pot
UTG showed T T (two pair, Tens and Twos) and LOST (-29,094 NET)
Hero showed K Q (a flush, King high) and WON 60,188 (+31,094 NET)


LOL Information Raise

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 600/1,200 Blinds, 150 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: 65,961
CO: 50,314
BTN: 67,240
SB: 26,883
Hero (BB): 139,000
UTG: 93,525

Pre-Flop: (2,700) K J dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to 3,000, MP calls 3,000, 3 folds, Hero raises to 12,700, UTG calls 9,700, MP folds

Flop: (29,900) 6 6 8 (2 Players)
Hero bets 16,150, UTG raises to 35,000, Hero raises to 126,150 and is All-In, UTG folds

Results: 99,900 Pot
Hero mucked K J and WON 99,900 (+52,050 NET)


He claimed he folded TT. Obviously I'm in decent shape against his range, and I'm not doing this with air, but I really did think this was an information raise and that he was going to fold to a raise. Works for me.

At this point, I had a really dominating stack, top 5% for sure. It was time to start pushing people around. Tune in tomorrow for Part 2....

Labels: NLHE, poker, poker strategy, session review, tournament

Stumble It!

Finally got good runs going in the Stars $300 and Tilt $100 rebuy Wednesday tournaments. At one time, I was chipleader in the Tilt and 2nd on Stars with like 3-4 tables left at each. Unfortunately, I ended up busting 21st on Stars with AT < AJ on an AsKsJc6c board in a Button vs CO spot against a pretty aggressive player. I'm ok with how I played it and wasn't too frustrated.

I managed to take 5th in the FTP, lost AK <> Q9 (which was itself a few hands after QJ < AA on JhTh6 flop- it was a swingy tournament). Very tired now, but I'll post some hands tomorrow, there were a bunch of interesting ones.

Despite all that, I was barely up on the day, thanks to running/playing bad at cash. Mostly just lost one big pot in a 25/50 HU match with KQ vs 65 on a Qc6c5 flop.

Labels: poker, tournament

Stumble It!

I was playing around with Poker Tracker today and came across something pretty surprising: over my last 112,000 hands, I have lost more BB's with AQs than with anything else. In the interest of public shaming and hopefully improving, here are the five biggest pots (measured by BB) I've lost with AQs. Warning: Obviously, some of these are going to be pretty bad.

Pure Donkey

Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $10 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

CO ($1000)
Button ($1726)
SB ($801)
BB ($1299)
UTG ($930)
Hero ($1388)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Qc, Ac.
1 fold, Hero raises to $35, CO calls $35, 2 folds, BB raises to $145, Hero calls $110, CO folds.

Flop: ($330) Qh, 7d, 4h (2 players)
BB bets $245, Hero calls $245.

Turn: ($820) Jh (2 players)
BB bets $565, Hero raises to $998 (All-In), BB calls $344 (All-In).

River: ($2727) 3h (2 players, 2 all-in).

Final Pot: $2727 Villain wins with AA.

Yuck, fold pre-flop. I've got no defense for this one.


Big Draw

Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $25 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Button ($3303)
Hero ($2916)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ad, Qd.
Button calls $15, Hero raises to $90, Button calls $65.

Flop: ($180) 7d, 8s, Jd (2 players)
Hero bets $125, Button raises to $250, Hero raises to $1075, Button calls $825.

Turn: ($2330) 7s (2 players)
Hero bets $1751 (All-In), Button calls $1751.

River: ($5832) Th (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $5832 Villain wins with J8.

Maybe check back the turn? This one is probably fine/unlucky.


Cooler

Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $50 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Hero ($5250.25)
BB ($17039.75)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Qh, Ah.
Hero raises to $150, BB calls $100.

Flop: ($300) Ks, Js, Ts (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $250, BB raises to $750, Hero raises to $2500, BB raises to $16889.75 (All-In), Hero calls $2600.25 (All-In).

Turn: ($22290) 5h (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($22290) 5c (2 players, 2 all-in).

Final Pot: $22290 Villain wins with a flush, don't recall his cards but it doesn't matter.


Carried Away

Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $10 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Button ($2982)
Hero ($1000)
BB ($1000)
UTG ($1000)
MP ($1000)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Ah, Qh.

3 folds, Hero raises to $30, BB raises to $100, Hero raises to $275, BB raises to $1000 (All-In), Hero calls $725 (All-In).

Flop: ($2000) 9h, 3d, Tc (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($2000) Kd (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($2000) 6h (2 players, 2 all-in).

Final Pot: $2000 Villain wins with AA.

Tough spot in a blind battle. Against a regular this would be fine, but this guy was an unknown, so probably just calling his 3-bet and getting away on the flop is best.


Defending My Squeeze

Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $10 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

MP ($867)
CO ($1191.20)
Button ($636)
SB ($1000)
Hero ($1015)
UTG ($247)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Qs, As.

2 folds, CO raises to $35, Button calls $35, SB calls $30, Hero raises to $165, CO folds, Button folds, SB raises to $1000 (All-In), Hero calls $835.

Flop: ($2070) 7d, 2h, 3c (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($2070) 7h (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($2070) 6s (2 players, 1 all-in).

Final Pot: $2070 Villain wins with 88.

Fine call, unlucky result. It's super unlucky this guy has QQ+, AK after overcalling pre-flop.


Not surprisingly, there are some coolers and lost coin flips here. Significantly, though, there is also some bad play, and none of my five biggest losers were bad beats. What's your biggest loser?

Labels: NLHE, poker, poker strategy, session review

Stumble It!

Apparently this guy is a super aggressive regular in the big Fixed Limit Hold 'Em games at Commerce and occasionally Borgata:

Sources confirmed the suspect, Kang Hyuk Choi, 32, was arrested in Los Angeles at about 3 a.m. PST, police said, and booked by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. Bergen County, N.J., authorities planned to hold a news conference Monday to discuss the case.

Choi was arrested at a card game at the Commerce Casino without incident, police said.

Police said he carried a large sum of money.

Source: WNBC

I like how they mention the large sum of money as though it were something shady. He was playing 80-160 FLHE, of course he had a large sum of money on him!

According to 2+2's DrewonTilt:

Of all people that I know just in passing, he is one of the LAST people I would expect to be tied up in something like this. ActionBob text messaged me that someone from the Borgata 80 game was tied up in a murder case. I knew about it for 3 hours before I was able to get to a news source. I NEVER once even thought of Kang.

As ActionBob says, he plays like a total maniac, but he has NEVER had a cross word to say to ANYBODY in the entire Borgata poker room. I have witnessed some nasty sore losers light into him something awful, but he has always smiled and then quietly kept playing. In the dozen or so conversations lasting longer than 30 seconds that I have had with him, he has been friendly, unassuming, and pleasant.

I did play today for the first time in over a week, but unless you want to hear me whine about losing a 350BB pot with AA < K7s all in preflop (I put in the 6th and final bet!), I don't have anything interesting to report.

Oh the first video of my turn series is up at Poker Savvy Plus. Remember, it's free to sign up and you get a free one week trial, so it won't cost you anything to watch. Then again, you might want to save that until the rest of the series is posted, which should be in about two weeks. If you do watch it, please let me know what you think.
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