After some thought, my opponent moved all in for 36,500. This is another spot that I’d never put myself in online, betting without a plan for what I’d do if my opponent raised. In a live game, though, I have the added option of staring him down. I stared intently at him for a good three minutes not even thinking about anything in particular but just watching him and letting him sweat for a bit and trying to see what kind of a feel I could get from him.

When I decided that he’d basted in his own perspiration for long enough, I reached towards my chips and watched again for a reaction. He blinked and turned towards me a bit. That felt weak, but it wasn’t decisive, so I just made a note of it. Never taking my eyes off of him, I confirmed with the dealer the amount I would need to call. My opponent swallowed. I counted out the appropriate number of chips but held them in my hand, starting to lean towards a call but not having made up my mind yet. He blinked again and looked uncomfortable. I pushed the chips into the pot.

I look forward every year to writing these trip reports and put a lot of work into them, so I’m very eager to hear any and all feedback. Please let me know what you think!

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $1.00 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Button ($170.35)
Hero ($250)
BB ($1351.95)
UTG ($258.90)
MP ($456.15)
CO ($96.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 7c, As, 5h, Ac.
UTG calls $1, MP raises to $5.7, CO calls $5.70, Button calls $5.70, Hero raises to $31.7, 1 fold, UTG folds, MP calls $26, CO raises to $96.5, Button folds, Hero raises to $249.8, MP folds.

Flop: ($386.10) 7s, Ks, Kh (2 players)

Turn: ($386.10) 4s (2 players)

River: ($386.10) Ad (2 players)

Final Pot: $386.10
Results in white below:
Hero has 7c As 5h Ac (full house, aces full of kings).
CO has Kd Td Tc Ts (three of a kind, kings).
Outcome: Hero wins $386.10.

Despite the swings, it was actually a really boring day. It was a soft starting table, but a couple of people lost their chips early and soon better players had taken their seats. The field is tough enough that it probably was a softer than average table throughout the day, but that doesn’t mean anyone was giving chips away.

I got my first double up early, opening with 22 in early position and getting called by one of the weaker players. I bet-shoved a 2d 7c Tc flop and held vs. ATs. After that I won a small pot raise-calling 44 in the CO vs. a German online player who turned out to have TT but couldn’t win the flip. It was a shame, because we’d been talking and he was the friendliest guy I’d played with all day.

He was soon replaced by Matt Waxman, who proved to be a good player but a much less pleasant table mate.

Another newcomer to the table was Alan Sternberg, winner of the recent Bay 101 Shooting Star Bay 101 event. Not long after he arrived, I opened AJs on the CO and the loosest player at table called on the BTN. Alan squeezed out of the BB, and I decided to 4-bet-call for about 40 BB’s, half my stack. Alan has AK, but based on how he played throughout the day, I’m happy with how I played it and chalking it up to a cooler.

Pretty soon I was in push/fold mode and shoved TT UTG only to be called by Alan’s KK. I turned a set to stay alive and double up.

Excited to have enough chips to play post-flop, I won a few pots that way and got up well over 100K. Then I started tangling with Aaron Merlman, who thanks in no small part to me is now in 2nd place overall. I don’t want to get into details here but I lost some big pots and ended up back in short stack territory.

Blinds had just gone up to 1500/3000/300, and I was in the BB with about 37K. Waxman opened to 6300, which I felt he could do with quite a wide range given my situation. He got flat called by a few players with loose standards, and I woke up to KTo in the BB. At this point the pot was nearly the size of my stack, and while I didn’t expect to have a lot of fold equity, I thought everyone’s ranges were pretty wide and I could probably get it heads up. I shoved, Waxman re-shoved 99, and I won the flip.

He was pretty unhappy about that and berated me a bit, but I’d play it the same again. I just stayed quiet and let him grumble. That stuff doesn’t get under my skin in terms of affecting how I play, but it does making playing much less enjoyable for me, which sucks. People who behave that way are one of the reasons I don’t like live poker.

The next hand, a loose player opened to 8K UTG. He only had about 70K behind. He got two calls from people who would definitely have 3-bet him if they had big hands. I found 88 in the SB. It would be a perfectly reasonable spot to flat 88, but I figured that especially with the dead money in the pot, I could afford to race with UTG. I squeezed it to 25K, and he called, which I was not expecting. Mercifully the other two folded and we saw a 9-high flop with three spades. I don’t know whether I had a spade, but it didn’t matter. I shoved, and he folded, telling me he had AQ no spade. From what I saw of his play, that sounds about right.

After that I just coasted through the rest of the day, stayed out of trouble, and bagged up a slightly below average but very healthy stack. There are 74 players remain, and 56 will be paid $7500. We play 8-handed tomorrow. Wish me luck!

PS I’m told that the Home Game tournament wasn’t available for registration today. Very sorry about that. I definitely scheduled it, but this wouldn’t be the first time the Home Game system deleted a tournament I had scheduled (once it even added one!). We’ll do the 2-7 NL next weekend, when I’ll definitely be available to play.

Certainly an above average year in tournaments, with an FTOPS win, a WCOOP final table, a SCOOP final table bubble, and a top 100 finish in the WSOP Main Event. No room to complain about anything here. My true ROI is probably in the neighborhood of 100%, so I ran well above expectation. The high average buy-in and field size indicate that I focused my play on big buy-in events and special huge-field events like the WCOOP, FTOPS, and Sunday tournaments, which was the goal.

ROI: 395.8%

ITM: 17.5%

Average Buy-In: $546

Average Field Size: 2,204

Average Finish: 38.7%

Win Rate: .73 Buy-Ins/Hour

Biggest Win: $2000 FTOPS 2-Day NLHE

Cash Game Statistics

These numbers aren’t as bad as they look. Basically I got creamed in some high stakes heads up games, and those dragged down my overall win rates. Excluding heads up games, I’m up across the board, even in high-stakes games (2.5 BB/100 win rate). Basically I just need to either get better at heads up, stop playing it, or at least practice better game selection.

I’m also a little unhappy with the number of hands played. Because of my nomadic lifestyle, I was on my laptop for most of the year, with just one monitor. Thus I often played just 4 tables at once. It’s been nice getting back on two monitors, and I’m looking forward to getting a lot more hands in for 2011.

Hands Played: 254,356

Win Rates (in BB/100)

Overall: 1.65
6-Max: 2.11
Full Ring: 5.07
Heads Up: -7.7
Mid-Stakes: 3.01
High Stakes: -2.52

Best Game

10/20 Pot Limit Hold ‘Em. Played 3 hands and won $270, for a win rate of 450 BB/100.

If you want a serious answer, it’s $2/4 Rush NLHE Full Ring, where I played 75K hands with a 6.55 BB/100 win rate.

Worst Game

1/2 Rush NLHE 6-Max. Played one hand and lost $2, so -100 BB/100. Somewhat more devestating was my -31.44 BB/100 over 2700 hands of 25/50 Heads Up NLHE.

Biggest Pot Won, in BBs

434.19 BB’s

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($638.50)
Hero (MP) ($2983.35)
CO ($1403.05)
Button ($4023.40)
SB ($2525.35)
BB ($1822.90)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 10, 10
1 fold, Hero bets $24, 1 fold, Button raises to $72, SB raises to $192, 1 fold, Hero raises to $444, 1 fold, SB calls $252

Flop: ($966) 10, 2, 6 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($966) 5 (2 players)
SB bets $625, Hero calls $625

River: ($2216) 8 (2 players)
SB bets $1455.15 (All-In), Hero calls $1455.15

Total pot: $5126.30 | Rake: $3

Results:
SB had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Hero had 10, 10 (three of a kind, tens).
Outcome: Hero won $5130.50

Biggest Pot Won, $

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $80.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($10690)
Hero (SB) ($14549)
BB ($25279)
UTG ($12963.50)
MP ($53395.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
UTG bets $240, 2 folds, Hero raises to $960, 1 fold, UTG raises to $2400, Hero raises to $14549 (All-In), UTG calls $10563.50 (All-In)

Flop: ($26007) K, 4, 8 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($26007) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($26007) 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $26007 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had K, K (three of a kind, Kings).
UTG had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $26004

Biggest Pot Lost, in BBs

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($566.40)
MP ($3683.60)
Button ($1845.30)
Hero (SB) ($2330.80)
BB ($2075.40)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, K
2 folds, Button bets $18, Hero raises to $77, 1 fold, Button calls $59

Flop: ($160) A, K, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $122, Button calls $122

Turn: ($404) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $333, Button calls $333

River: ($1070) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $777, Button raises to $1312.10 (All-In), Hero calls $535.10

Total pot: $3694.20 | Rake: $2

Results:
Button had Q, J (royal flush).
Hero had A, K (two pair, Aces and Kings).
Outcome: Button won $3698.20

Biggest Pot Lost, in $

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($17121)
BB ($13686.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 4
Hero bets $100, BB raises to $350, Hero raises to $950, BB calls $600

Flop: ($1900) A, 8, 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $999, BB raises to $3175, Hero raises to $5351, BB raises to $12736.50 (All-In), Hero calls $7385.50

Turn: ($27373) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($27373) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $27373 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had A, 4 (two pair, Aces and fours).
BB had 4, 4 (full house, fours over twos).
Outcome: BB won $27372.50

How did 2010 treat you?

MP3 ($126.70)
CO ($508.10)
Button ($470.80)
SB ($443.50)
Hero (BB) ($823)
UTG ($469.40)
UTG+1 ($793.10)
MP1 ($400)
MP2 ($376.90)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, 10
1 fold, UTG+1 bets $12, 4 folds, Button calls $12, 1 fold, Hero calls $8

Flop: ($38) J, 5, 10 (3 players)
Hero bets $28, UTG+1 calls $28, Button calls $28

Turn: ($122) 3 (3 players)
Hero bets $99, 1 fold, Button calls $99

River: ($320) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $210, Hero calls $210

Total pot: $740 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had K, Q (one pair, fives).
Hero had 9, 10 (two pair, tens and fives).
Outcome: Hero won $737

UTG is a predictable TAG regular, and BTN is a loose-ish random. I donk the flop because my hand isn’t good enough to call a c-bet but also doesn’t generally want to see the flop check around. Also I am already thinking about possibly getting UTG off of an overpair by three-barreling.

After the flop action, I am confident that UTG has a better hand than mine and that BTN is on a draw. The turn bet puts a lot of pressure on UTG. Not just anyone will fold top pair/an overpair here, but I think he will, if not now then on the river. Of course having him fold and BTN call is the ideal outcome.

And then a brick on the river makes for an easy check-call. I probably lose to AJ or Kc Qc now and again, but that’s about it.