Posts Tagged ‘Poker Stars’

The wait is over! I’m flattered by everyone who’s been asking about this. Part 1 of my PCA Trip Report is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine. Part 2 will be in next month’s magazine. Here’s a snippet from one of the more interesting hands I played:

Saskatchewan limped UTG again, Belgium limped behind, and I raised to 1,000 with A4o in the CO. This raise really blurs the line between “value” and “making a move”, since I do expect to win often with a continuation bet but I also think A4 is ahead of both of their ranges. Essentially I’ve got position and the best hand, so even though it might be tricky to play post-flop, I don’t see how raising can be bad. Saskatchewan joked about how “you internet guys don’t allow limping” and called, and Belgium called as well. They both checked a K83 rainbow, I bet 1,600, Saskatchewan folded, and Belgium quickly raised to 5,100. I was sure he was making a move, so I considered my options.

This trip report focuses almost exclusively on the poker. If you want to read about the rest of the trip, check out Hello, Goodbye, Team Online.

As always, please let me know what you think!

Villain is an unremarkable tournament grinder, probably a modest winner. I don’t know much about him, nor do I know what if anything he thinks of me. This is on PokerStars, so I do have my Team Online avatar which occasionally entices people to do crazy things, though I’ve got no specific reason to think that that’s a factor here. There’s no important history or table dynamic between us.

Poker Stars – $300+20 Tournament (#435011043) – Blinds: 200/400 +50 Ante, No Limit Hold’em (8 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: t25,330
BB: t9,032
UTG: t8,323
UTG+1: t25,215
MP: t13,846
MP+1 Hero: t16,901
CO: t31,444
BTN: t24,118

Pre-flop: (t600) Hero is MP+1 and dealt Ad 4h
3 folds, Hero raises to t800, CO folds, BTN calls t800, BB folds

Flop: (t2,200) 4d 4s Kh (2 players)
Hero bets t1,666, BTN raises to t3,640, Hero calls t1,974

Turn: (t9,480) 4d 4s Kh Ts (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (t9,480) 4d 4s Kh Ts 7d (2 players)

Hero has a little over 12K left in his stack, and Villain covers. What’s your play? Anything you’d do differently on earlier streets? I’ll post my thoughts and comments on or about Friday morning.

Judging from the number of comments, folks found this WYP less compelling than someone. That’s to your credit, because as many commenters advocated, I believe folding the flop is correct. Dangerhorse explains why:

I would probably fold although the pot odds are enticing and your hand (a pair and a draw) superficially seems very strong. This is a super wet board and a good player should not be leading into three opponents without something very substantial. I put him on KQ, AQ and stronger. If you raise all-in, I don’t think he folds much. I also don’t think you have the full 13 outs that a pair-and-an-OESD normally does.

Assuming you call, if your draw comes in, with an ace or a nine, it’s going to be a super-scary board, and it’s going to be tough to get paid off, especially being out of position. On top of that, your opponent will often also have a king, so you may well chop even if your draw comes in – or lose to AK.

Not all pair + draws are created equally. On a board like this, where so many draws are likely, it matters a lot that you have the worst pair and are drawing exclusively to non-nut hands. Out of position in a multi-way pot with action from a good player in early position, you can’t afford to treat this as a strong hand.  Read the complete post...

I had a bit of a rude surprise when checking out of my room this morning. Apparently my hotel package did not actually include the $1000 non-refundable folio that I thought it did, and on which basis I purchased a $300 massage. At first I thought this was an error on Atlantis’ part, but I just reread my confirmation and sure enough it says, “If your package includes hotel plus a $1,000 USD food credit”, which mine apparently did not. It also says, “Any funds that you have not used will be refunded to you upon check-out.” So yeah, I just can’t read. I probably wouldn’t have spent $200 at Nobu last night either…. Then again maybe I would have lost at credit cart roulette (I bought out so I could use the folio credit I thought I had) and eaten the $1500 bill, so I’m going to pretend that that was what was going to happen.

While I’m amending recent blog posts, I also have to admit to backsliding on my “don’t judge assholes” philosophy. I split a cab with fellow PokerStars Team Online member Andre Coimbra, whose flight was half an hour before mine, so I got to the airport plenty early. That was good, because the customs line was massive and there were only two agents working it. People all around me were just losing their minds with frustration.  Read the complete post...

Edit: Fixed the suit of card (c) so it doesn’t match what’s in Hero’s hand. 

It’s Level 4 of the PCA. Hero is wearing his PokerStars Team Online patch, which in Villain’s eyes probably makes him a cash game grinder with minimal tournament experience. Villain is a young online MTT wizard: highly ranked on Pocket Fives, tons of success, modest live experience but certainly knows what he’s doing in any tournament situation. He’s new to the table in the last hour and neither he nor Hero has done anything remarkable in that time. With the exception of Villain and one other good but short-stacked player on Hero’s left, the table is reasonably soft, certainly above average for the field.

Blinds 100/200/25. Villain (13K) opens to 500 UTG+2. Two of the looser players (16K and 40K)  at the table call, and Hero (35K) calls Kc Ts in the BB.

Flop Qd Jd Th. Hero checks, Villain bets 1450 into pot of 2300, the other two fold, and the action is back on Hero. What’s your plan?

Just to focus the discussion a bit, let’s assume that if you raise, Villain will shove or fold. If you call, talk about how you’d proceed on each of the following turns:

a) 2s

b) Kh

c) Tc  Read the complete post...

I took plenty of notes for a full write-up, but for now I’ll just say that we started with 30K and I finished with 38.5K. I think the average is between 50 and 60, and blinds will be 500/1000/100 on Monday, so I’m in OK shape. I had two other PokerStars Team Online members at my table, first Bjorn Schneider on my left than Jorge Limon on my right. Other than Bjorn and a pretty good Dutch player my starting table was probably softer than average. By the end of the day we had Jorge and two other good high-stakes cash players, so it was pretty tough then.

I played a funny hand against one of them. Blinds were 400/800/100, and I opened to 2000 with K9s in the HJ. He called in the BB and check-called 2400 on a T55r flop. We both checked an 8 turn, then he bet 5600 on a T river. I wasn’t 100% sure he wouldn’t value bet an A, but I doubted it. I did think he was capable of floating out of position, and this was an ideal spot for it. So I called, and he showed A3 and seemed surprised to win the pot. “I was trying to bluff you off a chop” he told me. Lovely.  Read the complete post...

It’s a beautiful morning in the Bahamas. Walking around in the morning is a totally different experience, because they are empty except for some grounds crew and a few early risers such as myself. Later today there will be screaming kids and booming speakers, but right now it’s oddly serene.

I’ve got stuff with PokerStars all day today and then I’ll be playing the tournament hopefully all day tomorrow, which means I won’t be able to take full advantage of the facilities until Sunday. Of course I wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for those other things, so I can’t complain. I just hope the weather stays nice. One time!

Ballin’: I’m current on my way to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, where I’ll be staying for eight nights and playing in the $10,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event.

Anti-Ballin’: I’m bringing a small pantry with me, because it kills me to pay $20 for a sandwich.

So wish me luck, and please be patient if the blog and Twitter feed are quiet. Historically the internet at Atlantis has been atrocious and expensive, so while I’ve pre-written a couple of posts, I may or may not be blogging from the Bahamas.