Tales From a 7-11: Sam

I haven't played much poker of late, but for some reason I was compelled recently to write a series of vignettes from my days as a 7-11 employee. I figured I might as well post them here on days that I don't have anything poker-related to say. Please let me know whether or not they are interesting to you; your feedback will determine whether and how I often I post future installments.

Sam

Sam was the store's oldest and longest standing employee. A Vietnam vet in his late fifties, he only worked the overnight shift. I heard rumors that he had money and didn't need to work but was just looking for something to do nights.

The overnight shift could drive you crazy, no doubt, but on the other hand one had to be a bit crazy already to request it. Most of the job was cleaning and organizing the store, receiving deliveries, and standing around idle and lonely (it was the only shift to which just one employee was assigned). The mundanity was punctuated by the occasional visit from the crazies who only come out at night.

Sam was everyone's least favorite employee. He was a grouch and a hard-ass who would savagely berate whomever he was relieving for the smallest infraction: a sticky spot on the floor, a less-than-full freezer, or an insufficient number of milk cartons on display. I was terrified of him.

No one dared to give Sam a nickname, but if I had the opportunity now, I would call him Scrappy. He was short, barely five feet tall, but solidly built and tough as nails. He was balding but wore a Chuck Norris beard and a twenty-four hour sneer.

The manager once showed me security camera footage from a robbery. A little after 2AM, a huge black guy with arms like tree trunks came into the store. He asked for a carton of cigarettes. On the video, you can see Sam step away from the counter and out of view to retrieve them. Chained to the counter was a donation box for the funeral of a police officer who'd been hit by a car during a traffic stop. The thief grabbed the box and ripped it chain and all off the counter, then ran for the door.

The next thing you can see on the video is Sam coming back into view, vaulting over the counter like an Olympic hurdler and sprinting after the guy. I don't know what he thought he was going to do if he caught the guy, which he didn't.

I eventually won Sam's grudging respect via immaculate preparation at the end of my shifts. Everything was all ready for him, we'd change over the registers in a minute flat, and then I'd spend the half hour that we were both in the store bagging ice and filling the coolers. As I left, Sam would thank me, wish me a good night, and occasionally even smile, which was a hell of a lot more than anyone else could get from him.

Triple Barrel Bet Sizing

A triple barrel bluff will by definition involve at least three bets. Especially when dealing with a player who can read hands well, sizing these bets will often be the difference between success and failure.

As I discussed in a previous post, your objective on early streets may actually be to get called. Since you are going to be bluffing later anyway, it behooves you to build a bigger pot to steal. Your other objective on early streets is to lay the groundwork that will enable you to represent a monster by the river. That means your betsizing must be consistent with the hand(s) you want to represent.

On the river, your objective is to make the most +EV bluff that you can. Remember that this is not always the bluff that succeeds most often. Tripling your bet size to double your fold equity is not a winning proposition.

Let's start by looking at how not to do that. I played this hand against a very good player, one of the best at these stakes:

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $1,022
Hero (BTN): $2,349.75
SB: $2,169
BB: $3,128
UTG: $779.75
MP: $1,309

Pre-Flop: 8 T dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $35, SB folds, BB raises to $130, Hero calls $95

Flop: ($265) 4 K 6 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $111, BB calls $111

Turn: ($487) 4 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $333, BB calls $333

River: ($1,153) 2 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1,275, BB calls $1,275

Results: $3,703 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 8 T (a pair of Fours) and LOST (-$1,849 NET)
BB showed K Q (two pair, Kings and Fours) and WON $3,700 (+$1,851 NET)


First off, this isn't the greatest spot for a triple barrel bluff. My opponent is announcing that he has a medium-strength hand, but he's also playing it in a way that will invite bluffs. And this particular opponent definitely has the hand-reading skills and the stomach to call down.

Since there aren't any plausible two pair combinations, the river overbet represents either a full house or air (or 53 for a straight, I suppose). And Villain probably expects me to 4-bet KK pre-flop often, so really I can only have three combinations of 66, one combination of 44, or the rare 22 that was bluffing and then backed into a boat. Since he's played his hand to entice a bluff, he's got an easy call with KQ.

I like this one better, even though it didn't work:

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $2,203.50
Hero (SB): $6,798

Pre-Flop: 7 9 dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $30, BB calls $20

Flop: ($60) 4 2 8 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $44, BB raises to $144, Hero raises to $366, BB calls $222

Turn: ($792) Q (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $444, BB calls $444

River: ($1,680) J (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $888, BB calls $888

Results: $3,456 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
BB showed 7 7 (a pair of Sevens) and WON $3,455.50 (+$1,727.50 NET)
Hero showed 7 9 (Queen Jack high) and LOST (-$1,728 NET)


First off, my range is intrinsically much wider because we are heads up. It's not inconceivable that I have 84, 82, or 42 for two pair. My smallish bet sizing on future streets is consistent with this; by the river, 82 can expect to be best but can't expect worse hands to call a big bet. I also felt this bet sizing would be consistent with air that turned or rivered a pair and is now making a thinnish value bet.

Unfortunately, this was another poorly chosen opponent. He wasn't so much a good hand-reader as he was just plain old-fashioned stubborn. Oh well.

In New York

Sorry for the lack of updates, I was at a BDL tournament on Friday then a wedding reception in New York yesterday. The good news I'm staying in New York with a friend from the old Harvard Law School game I used to play in, so we got in some friendly 3-handed action with another of the guys yesterday. We played a .25/.50 NLHE game with a $100 buyin. I found myself rebuying a few times but somehow managed to avoid playing too many interesting hands.

Probably the most interesting was when I was in the BB with Q8s. Joe opened for $2 on the button, Darren folded in the SB, and I raised to $7.50. I knew Joe was opening up his raising range quite a bit from the button, but he's fundamentally a tight player, so I thought putting some pressure on him would be effective if I kept it up on future streets.

However, I flopped middle pair on an AQ7 flop. So, I checked and called a bet. We both checked a J on the turn, then I checked a 5 river. Joe bet, and while I figured my Q could be good a decent amont of the time, I also felt that he was pretty much never checking the turn with a hand that would call a shove on the river. So I moved all in, and he quickly folded. I showed my Q8, to which Joe replied, "You could have just called" so I guess I was good anyway. I still think it's a good spot to turn the hand into a bluff, though, just because even if a call is profitable a shove is going to win the pot nearly every time.

The Ol' Triple Barrel Turn Float

Villain was decent but way too aggressive. His strategy would have been decent for a 100BB game but we were playing 200+BB stacks and he was stacking off too light and risking too much on his bluffs.

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $6,988.50
BB: $2,443.50

Pre-Flop: 6 4 dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $30, BB calls $20

Flop: ($60) 5 2 2 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $44, BB calls $44

Turn: ($148) J (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $111, BB raises to $360, Hero calls $249

River: ($868) T (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $555, BB folds

Results: $868 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero mucked 6 4 and WON $867.50 (+$433.50 NET)


This is a pretty standard double barrel semi-bluff on the turn. His flop calling range is quite wide and includes many hands better than 6-high (duh) that can't stand a lot of heat. I didn't have a plan for a check-raise because it seemed so unlikely. He probably needs trips or better to do it for value, and there aren't many deuces in his pre-flop calling range. Then again, he might be check-raising something like Ace-high or a small pair thinking he is best but wanting to fold out live cards and avoid a tough river decision.

Not everyone is capable of check-raise bluffing, but this guy definitely is. On the other hand, 6-high can't beat many bluffs. So all in all it seemed like a good spot to float him, since a call here looks so strong. My value range on the river is probably KJ+, and I don't think he's expecting me to bluff-call, so he's going to have to check-fold a huge portion of his range even if a bluffing hand makes a pair on the river.

I wish I could tell you that he shoved the river and I called to beat his 43, because that would have been the greatest moment of my poker career and quite possibly my life. But this was still pretty cool.

Crazy Day

I put in a ton of hours today, and it was a real roller coaster ride. Mostly I was playing 25/50 cap, for some reason there were six fish-filled tables running today. A couple hours into the session, I was running like crap and having one of my worst days ever. But I (mostly) didn't get tilted, and I was still doing well in the FTP $500 (ended up with a shallow cash for less than twice my buyin) so I kept playing and ended up booking a solid win. Since these were mostly cap hands, there isn't much interesting to recount, so here's a pretty sick graph:

Mike Matusow Gets the Best of Me Again

It's been a while since we've played together, but Matusow was at two tables of 25/50 full ring today, so I took a seat as well. The game was pretty good, but once again Matusow "got the best of me" (scare quotes cuz really it was just a coin flip and not much either of us could/should have done differently):

Full Tilt Poker, $25/$50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP1: $6,863
MP2: $11,052
CO: $4,925
BTN: $3,604
SB: $1,550
BB: $1,330
Hero (UTG): $9,105
UTG+1: $930

Pre-Flop: K A dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $150, 4 folds, BTN calls $150, SB folds, BB calls $100

Flop: ($475) K 3 5 (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets $350, BB folds, Hero raises to $955, BTN calls $605

Turn: ($2,385) 7 (2 Players)
Hero bets $8,000 and is All-In, BTN calls $2,499 and is All-In
River: ($7,383) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $7,383 Pot ($3 Rake)
BTN showed 7 6 (a flush, Nine high) and WON $7,380 (+$3,776 NET)
Hero showed K A (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$3,604 NET)


If you're wondering about the flop check-raise, it's because I initially timed out and auto-checked. I was distracted by this river decision:

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $1,000
SB: $1,670
Hero (BB): $3,614
UTG: $535.80

Pre-Flop: 8 A dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, BTN raises to $30, SB folds, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($65) 2 2 4 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $50, Hero calls $50

Turn: ($165) 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $130, Hero calls $130

River: ($425) A (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $790 and is All-In, Hero calls $790

Results: $2,005 Pot ($2 Rake)
BTN showed J 9 (two pair, Nines and Twos) and LOST (-$1,000 NET)
Hero showed 8 A (two pair, Aces and Twos) and LOST (-$1,000 NET)


I'm really surprised he showed up with a 9 here. I don't get why he wouldn't just check that back, and I'm not sure if he was trying to value bet or bluff here (actually it was almost certainly a bluff but it's not inconceivable I could call with worse if I were in the right mood).

Here are two more not very interesting 25/50 hands:

Full Tilt Poker, $25/$50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $4,175
MP: $5,000
CO: $6,394
BTN: $6,474
SB: $5,532.10
BB: $5,000
Hero (UTG): $7,851.50

Pre-Flop: T T dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $175, UTG+1 calls $175, 4 folds, BB calls $125

Flop: ($550) T T 9 (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $376, UTG+1 folds, BB raises to $1,125, Hero calls $749

Turn: ($2,800) 3 (2 Players)
BB bets $1,700, Hero calls $1,700

River: ($6,200) Q (2 Players)
BB bets $2,000 and is All-In, Hero calls $2,000

Results: $10,200 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB showed Q K (two pair, Queens and Tens) and LOST (-$5,000 NET)
Hero showed T T (four of a kind, Tens) and WON $10,197 (+$5,197 NET)


Even when he "gets there" on the river, I still think check-folding is BB's best option here. It's so likely that KQ is no good and so unlikely that I will call with worse even if he is best.

And the last one:

Full Tilt Poker, $25/$50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP1: $5,322
MP2: $9,947
CO: $5,444
BTN: $8,147
SB: $5,622
BB: $6,851.10
UTG: $5,000
UTG+1: $5,694
Hero (UTG+2): $15,381.50

Pre-Flop: 7 7 dealt to Hero (UTG+2)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $150, Hero calls $150, 6 folds

Flop: ($375) K 4 7 (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $234, UTG+1 calls $234

Turn: ($843) K (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $666, UTG+1 calls $666

River: ($2,175) K (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks

Results: $2,175 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG+1 showed A A (a full house, Kings full of Aces) and WON $2,172 (+$1,122 NET)
Hero showed 7 7 (a full house, Kings full of Sevens) and LOST (-$1,050 NET)


I'm pretty sure a puppy died when the river came a third K.

Fun With Underbetting

This guy was min-raising every time he opened the pot, so I started min-check-raising him on the flop. Naturally that frustrated him, so more min-raising ensued.

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $1,107
Hero (BB): $7,603

Pre-Flop: 8 K dealt to Hero (BB)
SB raises to $20, Hero calls $10

Flop: ($40) 6 9 6 (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $27, Hero raises to $54, SB raises to $175, Hero raises to $296, SB folds

Results: $390 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero mucked 8 K and WON $389.50 (+$194.50 NET)


These aren't quite min bets, but the objective was similar. In this case, I thought these small bets would frustrate the guy and get him to call down with a smaller pair. Even though it's pretty obvious what I have, he would just feel like a tool folding 99 to these little bets, and it would be exploitable.

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

SB: $2,102
Hero (BB): $2,000
UTG: $2,285.50
CO: $2,283
BTN: $3,721.50

Pre-Flop: Q Q dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls $10, CO raises to $45, 2 folds, Hero raises to $150, UTG folds, CO calls $105

Flop: ($315) 3 5 K (2 Players)
Hero bets $175, CO calls $175

Turn: ($665) K (2 Players)
Hero bets $375, CO calls $375

River: ($1,415) 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $800, CO calls $800

Results: $3,015 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed Q Q (two pair, Kings and Queens) and WON $3,012 (+$1,512 NET)
CO mucked 9 9 (two pair, Kings and Nines) and LOST (-$1,500 NET)


This guy had been 3-betting me a ton. I like bluff-raising the flop with these stacks because it's very hard for him to play back. If he calls, there are a ton of scare cards on the turn, and if he 3-bet bluffs, he has to fear that I'm going to shove on him with a lot of draws. There just isn't much he can do.

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $744.30
BTN: $1,223.20
SB: $1,405.60
BB: $741.20
UTG: $1,153.10
Hero (MP): $1,611.40

Pre-Flop: A Q dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $21, 2 folds, SB raises to $72, BB folds, Hero calls $51

Flop: ($150) 7 T 4 (2 Players)
SB bets $100, Hero raises to $244, SB calls $144

Turn: ($638) 9 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $245, SB folds

Results: $638 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked A Q and WON $635 (+$319 NET)


There was about $1000 left in the effective stacks on the turn. Here, the underbet was designed to look like I was trying to induce a check-raise.

I Associate With Terrorists

About five years ago, when I was a senior in college, I attended a panel on education reform that a professor of mine had organized. One of the panelists was "domestic terrorist" Bill Ayers. I don't recall what Ayers was bloviating about, but he told some story about seeing a group of big, "thugged out" guys getting interviewed by a reporter at a high school in a rough part of Chicago. He asked if they were the football team and was told that in fact they were the chess team, and that they had won the city championships. He was surprised that that this school with a bad reputation in a bad part of town would be so into chess. I didn't know about the chess championship, but I actually coached debate at the same school.

After the panel, there was a reception. It was a small crowd, and I was one of the only students there, certainly the least consequential person by a mile. My professor called Bill over to introduce him to me, and I began to tell him my story, "I was interested to hear about the [High School] chess team you met, because I actually coach a debate team at that same school. I've had similar-"

Before I finish my second sentence, Bill cuts me off, grabs my hand, says "Great to meet you," turns his back, and goes over to talk to someone else.

So yeah, Bill Ayers is a terrorist. And a douchebag.

Book Review: Poker Slam by Neal Gersony

Neal Gersony’s Poker Slam is a novel about an aspiring professional poker player trying to track down his legendary uncle, who won millions in the world’s biggest tournaments and then disappeared. Great fiction it isn’t, but once the book gathers steam, it’s a fast-paced and engaging mystery flavored by the game of poker.

Gersony tracks back and forth between young Uriah “Utah” McCormick’s initiation into the world of poker and subsequent search for his uncle and an older Utah’s battle to win a major poker tournament.

It takes the author a while to engage his readers. This isn’t to say the book starts slow. In fact, the exposition often feels clunky and rushed. But it takes a while for the central conflict and mystery to reveal themselves, and Gersony’s characters are too flat to carry the weight of the novel alone.

Utah’s introduction to the poker scene is one of the highlights of the book. In backrooms of bars and in Las Vegas casinos, he meets a variety of very believable poker archetypes: the motorcycle-riding hothead, the grizzled Stud veteran, and the drugged out young star.

It is only in these all-too-brief scenes that the poker content feels germane to the rest of the novel. For the most part, the story would work just as well whether the main characters were poker players or interior designers. Poker is mostly just a veneer beneath which the plot unfolds. Only at the very end does the author draw some thematic connection between poker and the events of the story.

This may be for the best, though, because Gersony’s writing far outshines his knowledge of poker. At times he has a keen eye for the people who populate the game, but his attempts to portray the thinking of world-class players are laughably bad. In the interstitial scenes recounting their epic head up battle, two of the supposedly best players in the world display complete ignorance of basic concepts like pot odds. These scenes contribute virtually nothing to the plot or character development and are generally jarring and distracting given their infidelity to actual poker strategy.

Poker Slam is an entertaining adventure despite, not because of, its connection to poker. If you want a quick diversion, it’s an amusing read. But don’t pick it up looking for a poker novel, because for the most part it isn’t, and when it is, you’ll wish it wasn’t.

Watch Me Get Owned

This one was against a not-very-good player:

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (UTG): $1,454.70
MP: $1,323.15
CO: $546.65
BTN: $318
SB: $621.75
BB: $590.95

Pre-Flop: A T dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $21, 4 folds, BB calls $15

Flop: ($45) J 7 A (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $33, BB calls $33

Turn: ($111) 5 (2 Players)
BB bets $50, Hero calls $50

River: ($211) A (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $150, BB raises to $486.95 and is All-In, Hero calls $336.95

Results: $1,184.90 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked A T (three of a kind, Aces) and LOST (-$590.95 NET)
BB showed A K (three of a kind, Aces) and WON $1,181.90 (+$590.95 NET)


I usually fold in this spot, but it just seemed so unlikely that he would take the lead on the turn with two pair or a set and then check the river. Frankly I expected to see either a boat or a bluff, not that I don't like the way he played it. He probably does get a bet out of a Jack this way that would have folded if he led the river. Plus he got my donk ass to call with AT.

This one was against a very good player:

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

CO: $1,660.35
BTN: $426
SB: $1,005
BB: $1,077
Hero (UTG): $2,099

Pre-Flop: T K dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $35, 2 folds, SB calls $30, BB folds

Flop: ($80) 6 3 T (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $44, SB raises to $158, Hero calls $114

Turn: ($396) A (2 Players)
SB bets $300, Hero raises to $1,906 and is All-In, SB calls $512 and is All-In

River: ($2,020) 5 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $2,020 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed Q Q (a pair of Queens) and WON $2,017 (+$1,012 NET)
Hero showed T K (a pair of Tens) and LOST (-$1,005 NET)


He did a really nice job of depolarizing his range here. I was putting him on either a draw or a set. While it's possible he had the nut flush draw and got there on the turn, I wasn't sure he would bet that. Plus, the A is a good scary card for him to follow up if he is semi-bluffing.


Pwned.

Another 50/100 Shot

I've only played this high once before, but it went very well that time. The game tonight wasn't nearly as soft, but for a 50/100 game it wasn't too tough. As usual, it was built around an FTP pro, in this case winner of the WSOP PLHE championship Nenad Medic. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I played with Nenad on Day 1 of the WSOP main event this year. He wasn't bad by any stretch, but as far as I know he's not a regular in big online cash games, so I was expecting him to be kind of a tourney donk.

There were also a few other names I didn't recognize at the table, which was tentatively a good sign, and one who I knew to be decent but probably not much better than I. The biggest pot I played was against him:

Full Tilt Poker, $50/$100 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $20,541
BTN: $28,145
SB: $10,328
Hero (BB): $13,844
UTG: $23,340.15
MP: $29,093.30

Pre-Flop: 7 7 dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, CO raises to $350, BTN folds, SB calls $300, Hero raises to $1,400, CO calls $1,050, SB folds

Flop: ($3,150) 6 Q Q (2 Players)
Hero bets $1,444, CO raises to $3,400, Hero calls $1,956

Turn: ($9,950) J (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($9,950) 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $9,950, Hero folds

Results: $9,950 Pot ($3 Rake)
CO mucked and WON $9,947 (+$5,147 NET)


This was the second time I'd squeezed against this guy's CO open. The first time he 4-bet me pre-flop and I folded. I tanked on the river while playing, but looking at it now I'm pretty comfortable with the fold. The thing is that I think he thinks I have a medium pair, which means he could very well be bluffing. But in truth, I would probably play both AA and QJ in a similar fasion, because usually on the river he's going to have either a bluff or a hand worth value betting. So whether he realizes it or not, 77 is at the bottom of my range and protected against bluffs by those stronger hands.

And yes, I would call here with AA, because he can be value betting worse. In fact, I think this is a great line with something like KK.

This was the biggest pot I lost, but the session didn't go too well in general. I was out less than a buy-in, but at these stakes, that's still enough to swamp my winnings on many other tables. Oh well.

Building a Pot to Bluff

Generally when we think of manipulating pot size, we think of playing pot control when we have a hand that we want to showdown cheaply or trying to inflate the pot when we have a monster. But there are times when you might want to build the pot in anticipation of a bluff on a later street.

For example, let's say you raise 76 on the button and the BB calls. The flop comes AKx, and you decide that unless he check-raises the flop, it would be a good time to double barrel him. He'll fold a lot of better hands on the flop and even more on the turn. What's the correct bet size for the flop?

Strange as it may seem, even though you are bluffing, you want to minimize your fold equity on the flop. This is because you know you are going to fire a second barrel on the turn. Thus, any time your opponent calls the flop with a hand that will check-fold the turn, even if that hand is better than yours (which it pretty much always will be), then you gain. You should choose the bet size that will get the most money out of your opponent's range for check-calling the flop and check-folding the turn.

Here's another example from a hand I played at a 3/6 deep table today:

I opened to $21 with 5s 4s on the button, and the SB raised to $66. We were $1200 deep, and he'd been 3-betting me a lot, so I called with intention of messing with him on a lot of flops.

The flop was Js 9s 9c, which was pretty good for my purposes. It was tough for my opponent to hit, and even if he did call me, I had outs. With $138 in the pot, stacks were a little awkward for me to shove over a flop bet, but that was my play. Then my opponent made a small bet of just $78. It was now out of the question for me to shove, the risk/reward just wasn't right, but I wanted to get the money in on the flop, with me making the last bet, of course.

So I decided to min-raise to $156. If my opponent did choose to call with a pair, there was a decent chance that I could take the pot away later or hit my flush. But if he had nothing, which I figured he would most of the time, then I thought he would either fold or 3-bet bluff me. Sure enough, he clicked it back to $234. Now, the pot was plenty juicy, and I moved all in with my flush draw. He folded, and I took down a nicer pot than I would have gotten if I'd just tried to maximize my fold equity on my first bluff raise.

Three Things to Try

When you're trying to add new elements to your game and new tricks to your arsenal, you may end up making some plays that are, in a vaccuum, negative EV. However, the overall process of experimentation and trying to open up your game going to be very profitable for you in the long run. Here are three things that you probably don't do often enough and should make an effort to incorporate into your game, even if they cost you a little money in the short run as you learn how to execute them effectively:

1. Turn a hand with showdown value into a bluff.

2. Plan a triple barrel bluff from the flop and then execute it.

3. Check-raise bluff the river.

The most educational and least expensive way to start trying this stuff is to think it through ahead of time. Don't just sit down and start triple barreling at every opportunity to see when it works (hint: it will stop working very quickly). Instead, think it through ahead of time. Think about what boards and what type of opponents will be best for these plays, and then try to execute them at the right times.

Strange Play in a Four-Bet Pot

Here's a pretty interesting spot where I made what might be called a pre-emptive blocking bet:

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $2,184
BB: $2,000
UTG: $1,000
MP: $1,000
CO: $2,413
Hero (BTN): $4,150

Pre-Flop: K K dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, CO raises to $35, Hero raises to $120, 2 folds, CO raises to $320, Hero calls $200

Flop: ($655) A T 6 (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $333, CO folds

Results: $655 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked K K and WON $652 (+$332 NET)


First off, let me cover the pre-flop. CO was a decent regular, definitely capable of 4-betting light. However, we didn't have a sufficiently aggressive history that I could expect to get action if I 5-bet him. Calling is very clearly best, then, to maintain some deception about my range.

When he checks the flop as the pre-flop aggressor, I'm putting him on one of three things, from least to most likely:

1) A slowplayed monster- With AA, this is definitely a good time to check; however, that's a small part of his range, checking with TT is a lot less good (because I could well have top pair), and it's not a guarantee he would do it;

2) Air that is giving up- I'd expect him to fire once when an Ace flops if he has nothing, but then again people do tend to play pretty straight-forwardly in 4-bet pots;

3) An underpair playing for pot control- With QQ or JJ, he's definitely checking this flop to show down cheaply and induce bluffs.

4) Top pair playing for pot control/value- With something like AJ, he has a very strong hand that still probably does not want to play for stacks. By checking the flop, he can try to keep the pot smaller, induce bluffs, and get value on a later street from hands that might fold to a flop bet.


This may seem like a bad bet, then. After all, I'm only expecting a narrow category of worse hands to call, and overall I'm expecting to be behind his calling range. I do think I should have bet a little less, but in all likelihood, I'm going to have to pay off at least one bet to hands that are beating me anyway. Unless he does something crazy like overbet shove, I'm going to call at least one street. I think that betting now is the best way to get value from the occasional underpair, as a bet on a later street is going to look stronger than a flop stab.

Plus, this lets me control the size of the bet that I pay off to his Ax and deter the occasional double barrel bluff that I can't pay off. If he check-calls the flop, I'll be very comfortable folding if he leads out on the turn, or if he leads out on the river after the turn checks through. However, if I check now, I'd probably call the turn and fold the river. That means I'd pay off a turn bet of like $450-$500, often to Ax, and then fold to a river bet, which might occasionally be a bluff.

In looking over this now, I think I could accomplish all of this with a slightly smaller bet, probably in the $250-$300 range. But nevertheless, I think it's an interesting spot where position and narrowly defined ranges in a 4-bet pot greatly influence my play.

I Tillied

Such a classic clip. The look on Ivy's face is priceless. "I thought you had pocket Kings."

This should give you a sense of how I was running today (not the result but the fact that I was so gun shy):

Full Tilt Poker: Table Fro (deep 6) - $5/$10 - No Limit Hold'em

Seat 1: citiQQ ($2,327.25)
Seat 2: inspectorLe ($1,136.50)
Seat 3: Foucault ($2,000)
Seat 4: NoTDruNkENouGH ($1,156)
Seat 5: tabansi ($1,955)
Seat 6: WhoIsThisGuy ($1,032)
citiQQ posts the small blind of $5
inspectorLe posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #6

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Foucault [7s 7h]
Foucault raises to $35
NoTDruNkENouGH folds
tabansi raises to $86
WhoIsThisGuy folds
citiQQ folds
inspectorLe folds
Foucault calls $51

*** FLOP *** [Ks 6c 3s]
Foucault checks
tabansi bets $49
Foucault calls $49

*** TURN *** [Ks 6c 3s] [7d]
Foucault checks
tabansi bets $229
Foucault calls $229

*** RIVER *** [Ks 6c 3s 7d] [Th]
Foucault checks
tabansi bets $1,049
Foucault has 15 seconds left to act
Foucault has requested TIME
Foucault calls $1,049

*** SHOW DOWN ***
tabansi shows [Jd Ad] Ace King high
Foucault shows [7s 7h] three of a kind, Sevens
Foucault wins the pot ($2,838) with three of a kind, Sevens

WSOP Trip Report Conclusion

The finale of my trip report from the 2008 WSOP is now appearing in the October issue of 2+2 Internet Magazine. I must say, getting down to the final tables of this huge tournament is a pretty thrilling experience, at once exciting and surreal:

"On Day 6 of the main event, the Amazon Room was empty. Nine tables were collected in one corner of the immense room, 80% of which was utterly vacant. A single cocktail waiter patrolled between tables. Floor staff and press chatted idly as they waited for something to happen. Tensile cord stretched an oval around the 79 remaining players, so that every table was on the perimeter and observers could easily watch any of them."

If you haven't read them already, you should probably start with Part 1 and Part 2.

September

Despite a pretty rough WCOOP (or maybe because of- it did compel me to put in a lot of hours), September was a solid month. Even after some of those long sessions, though, I barely averaged twenty hours a week. I just don't think I'm going to hit my goal of averaging 25 hours per week. Thanks to the WSOP, though, I've already hit my monetary goal for the year, so I guess that's alright. then again, I crossed that line back in July as well but ended up sliding pretty substantially back under it and only recently dug myself back out. Nothing's guaranteed, of course, but I'm feeling pretty good at the moment.

I played about 28K hands of NLHE ring games online, and despite losing money at the highest stakes I was playing (10/20), I was at 8 BB/100 for the month, so no complaints there.

There are no major tournament series coming up this month, and I'm starting to have less responsbility with the BDL, so hopefully this will be a good opportunity to grind some higher stakes cash games. I've pretty much obtained my goal of becoming a winning regular at 10/20, so with a little work, I think I can definitely be there by the end of the year.

WSOP 2008 Main Event Ep 10 - Day 3 part 2 (4/5)

Here's my clip from last night's broadcast on ESPN. I'm "Brokos", appearing about 30 seconds in. That's right, the lucksack who gets it in with two pair versus trips and rivers the miracle 8.