These are all from tonight. Fair warning: this is pretty much a whine post, but I’m trying to include at least some insight into how precisely running bad can lead to playing bad (aside from the obvious straight-up frustration/tilt). This … Read more…
Both of these hands are against a real 3-betting fiend. He’s ridiculously loose and aggressive pre-flop, especially when he has position. Even though I think he’s taken it to the point of exploitability, it’s still a tough and high-variance playstyle … Read more…
This is a pretty specific situation nearly 400 BB’s deep against a phenomenal player (CardRunner’s instructor/FTP red pro Eric “P3achy_Keen” Liu Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com BB ($1945)UTG ($1015)UTG+1 ($4483)MP1 ($991.45)MP2 … Read more…
As of today, I am in the red for the year. Obviously not a big deal just two weeks in, but it’s annoying. It has a lot to do with my pocket Aces never winning the damn pot. In fact, … Read more…
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com MP2 ($723.55) MP3 ($1002) CO ($928) Button ($995) SB ($1000) BB ($1717.50) UTG ($585) Hero (UTG+1) ($1015) MP1 ($1239) Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A, A 1 … Read more…
There were nine 25/50 cap games going tonight! And I was playing all of them. This is against a guy who can’t read hands very well and never believes me: Full Tilt $1500.00 Cap No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (4 handed) … Read more…
Of course I couldn’t actually see my opponent’s hold cards, but it sure looks like I could when you see the results: Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com UTG ($3706.55)MP ($1875)Hero (CO) … Read more…
At least I wish I did… PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com MP ($2292)CO ($2000)Button ($2000)SB ($828.85)BB ($2773)Hero (UTG) ($1904) Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, AHero raises to $60, MP raises to … Read more…
Sorry I haven’t had the opportunity to put together my 2009 Resolutions yet- they’ll be coming soon… The Poker Stars Sunday Million (which now guarantees a $1.5 million prizepool and routinely clears that by a healthy margin) is comparable to … Read more…
Absolutely murdered this guy at 10/20 heads up this afternoon. He was decent but overly loose and aggressive and did not adapt well to playing super-deep. As you’ll see, we had a very aggressive pre-flop dynamic going on, but it … Read more…
I play FTP’s 200 BB deep stack games almost exclusively. That’s in part because I prefer deeper stacked play but also because the higher stakes regular games are infested with people who buy in for the minimum of 20 BB … Read more…
Gah how does this not value bet the river?!?! Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter BB: $3,800 Hero (UTG): $4,340 MP: $4,151 CO: $2,000 BTN: $4,026 SB: $3,853 Pre-Flop: A 8 … Read more…
This was an interesting one: Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 4 Players LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter Hero (BB): $1,050 UTG: $2,182 BTN: $1,186 SB: $1,018.90 Pre-Flop: T A dealt to Hero (BB) UTG folds, BTN raises … Read more…
The frustrating thing about monster hands like Quads is that they rarely get paid off, since it’s so hard for your opponents to make second best hands. But I managed to win two stacks with quads tonight: Full Tilt Poker, … Read more…
I guess this is fairly standard and notable mostly for the sum of money involved: Full Tilt Poker, $25/$50 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter CO: $12,483 BTN: $16,645 Hero (SB): $10,000 BB: $17,688 UTG: … Read more…
Villain was some random I’d never seen before and knew nothing about: Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 PlayersLeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter UTG: $534.20MP: $2,144.40CO: $2,000Hero (BTN): $2,000SB: $2,215BB: $1,015 Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero … Read more…
Last night was my biggest to date playing exclusively cash games, topped only by the WSOP (obviously- not sure that even counts since it took two weeks) and my win in the UB 200K last November. Funny thing is while … Read more…
Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 4 PlayersLeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter BB: $1,154Hero (UTG): $2,707BTN: $1,072SB: $5,637.50 Pre-Flop: 2 2 dealt to Hero (UTG)Hero raises to $35, BTN folds, SB calls $30, BB folds Flop: ($80) 5 … Read more…
In light of my recent article on Creative Bet Sizing, here are two river check-raise overbets I made against the same player. The situations are similar: I have an unlikely monster hand and my opponent has a well-defined strong-but-not-too-strong hand. … Read more…
There was a great 25/50 deep game going last night, with two really big fish sitting on $10,000+ each. I had to compete with three very good players for them, but it was still a great spot. Unfortunately, I missed … Read more…
I think the river 3-bet bluff is one of the sexiest plays in poker. Precisely because it’s so hard to pull off, it’s something I rarely attempt. But today I managed a good one: Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em … Read more…
I am a strong advocate of exploitive poker strategy. That is, I believe that you ought to tailor your play to exploit specific mistakes that you believe your opponents will make, even if this means that you are yourself open … Read more…
Thought I’m not playing the FTOPS events as compulsively as I have in the past, I am playing my favorites. So far, though, it hasn’t been too interesting and I decided to spare you the litany of bad beats. Last … Read more…
I put in one of my longest online poker sessions ever yesterday, starting at 2PM to play the $256 FTOPS 6-max knockout event (ran like ass but as you’ll see I’ve got no room to complain), then making a deep … Read more…
I was feeling so on top of my game the other day. I was just really alert and creative, picking up on a ton of spots where I could steal pots if I applied enough pressure in the right way. … Read more…
I spent the better part of last week in Sedona, Arizona, which is a beautiful part of the American Southwest featuring tremendous red rock structures. Unfortunately, someone decided that these red rock formations have somehow created spiritual vortexes (and yes … Read more…
Sorry at the airport on laptop so no easy access to HH but playing 10/20 HU guy opens for 60 on the button, I make it 211 with AKo, he makes it 533, I shove for a little over 2K, … Read more…
OK I paired the river but 8-high would have been good anyway: Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter MP: $600 CO: $1,712.40 Hero (BTN): $1,495 SB: $1,992.90 BB: $318 UTG: $1,206 … Read more…
Had a decent morning at the tables but the real brag is for the Boston Debate League, which was awarded today a $50,000 grant from the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Foundation. The grant will support the BDL’s work with debate … Read more…
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, … Read more…
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” … Read more…
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 PlayersLeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter … Read more…
This one was against a not-very-good player: Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 PlayersLeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter Hero (UTG): $1,454.70MP: $1,323.15CO: $546.65BTN: $318SB: $621.75BB: $590.95 Pre-Flop: A T dealt to Hero (UTG)Hero raises to $21, 4 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 PlayersLeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter SB: $2,184BB: $2,000UTG: $1,000MP: $1,000CO: $2,413Hero (BTN): $4,150 Pre-Flop: K … Read more…
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 … Read more…
Yesterday was a long day. It was the first tournament of the BDL’s fifth season, and though I’m no longer the director, I still very much wanted and needed to be there. So I woke up around 6AM, spent the … Read more…
Here are two fun hands played in pretty close succession. Although I finished down over all, I feel like I owned Villain pretty hard in both: Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players LeggoPoker.com – Hand History … Read more…
Here’s a fun hand against a smart and very aggressive player who was playing pretty strangely tonight: Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 PlayersLeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter SB: $1,643BB: $1,399UTG: $2,084.75Hero (MP): $2,363CO: $2,040BTN: $1,000 Pre-Flop: … Read more…
The structure on this actually wasn’t quite as deep as I expected in the early-going, but I imagine it gave a lot of play in the later stages while still keeping things moving along at a good clip. It’s a … Read more…
I’m skipping past some of the other WCOOP events I played because I’ve fallen behind on them and don’t remember much of what happened, which is because there really wasn’t much of interest anyway. The $500 rebuy 6-max did produce … Read more…
This was a great idea for a tournament format, with half the hands playing as O/8 and half as PLO8. Many people are going to be good at one game but not the other. Personally, I’m pretty strong in PLO8 … Read more…
Whining about every WCOOP I play is getting old, so I’ll just say that this was a pretty standard limit tournament in that I played for hours and didn’t come close to winning anything. At least it was fun and … Read more…
Terrible starting tables have been the theme of my WCOOP thus far. Today was no exception, with no fewer than three successful 5/10+ NL players, soon to be joined by a fourth (in addition to yours truly, so I guess … Read more…
Just kidding, I didn’t play this 😉
God what a grind this thing was. There were a little over 2000 runners, and after five and a half hours of playing, I was eliminated in 665th. It took five hours to get through two-thirds of the field. That’s … Read more…
I continued my poor luck with table draws and got Steve Paul-Ambrose on my left in a tournament where the field in general was a giant donkfest. Steve didn’t get too out of line, but his presence alone deterred me … Read more…
I was actually only in for $400 because I didn’t rebuy immediately. Only one person at my table did this, and I decided that Omaha being a high variance game, my one rebuy would be more useful to me as … Read more…
I’ve been working on my heads up game lately and was looking forward to this event. My first round opponent was just terrible. We started 200 BBs deep and I was thinking that with this structure it would be pretty … Read more…
I was in for the minimum, but that’s about all that went right with this tournament. For the next hour and a half, I was catching absolutely nothing. AK, JJ, and TT were the best hands I saw. I won … Read more…
I am just not very good at FLHE. The generic advice I’ve gotten about this game is to make tons of thin value bets and calls, which I try to do, but I think I’m choosing bad spots. My opponents … Read more…
PLO8 is one of my favorite poker games, and it’s also one of the toughest to find played for meaningful stakes, so I was pretty stoked for this event. I did in fact have a good time, even though it … Read more…
I encountered a few straight-up terrible opponents who were doing stuff like limp-calling with a T in the door, but honestly there was less of this than I expected. At least at my table, most people were playing reasonably well. … Read more…
This was an interesting tournament format, with only four players per table. My starting table actually had only three, and the other two were of course terrible. I doubled up fairly early on when a guy called my raise with … Read more…
I played a one hour heads up session at 5/10 NL today and had occasion to execute two triple barrel bluffs (against different opponents). I’m not on my main computer, so I don’t have the hand histories, but I’ll recreate … Read more…
This was a fun hand. It was against this guy who kinda irks me. He’s a full ring grinder, meaning that he plays 9-handed NLHE games exclusively for his income. Needless to say, he’s a pretty uncreative nit with a … Read more…
Two kind of interesting spots from a recent PLO session. They don’t have much in common other than the fact that both involve AAxx hands. Full Tilt Poker Pot Limit Omaha Ring game Blinds: $2/$4 6 players Converter Stack sizes: … Read more…
…but this one is kind of special. I shove flop cuz with these stacks on this board a short-stacker is check-raising any decent hand. Air is definitely the majority of his betting range here, and even when he does randomly … Read more…
I was really rolling in this for a few hours. There was a giant over-aggressive donkey at my starting table, and I was lucky enough to get more than a few hands against him early on to get up a … Read more…
It’s so rare to find a tournament with a structure as good as this one. Level increases were gradual and staggered every thirty minutes, and stacks started deep. There were a couple of good tournament players at my table, most … Read more…
It was Razz, so obviously nothing too interesting happened. I felt like I ran terrible, but I think everyone feels that way when they play Razz. I’m not going to bore you with any bad stories. Naturally there were a … Read more…
This one was over quick. I 3-bet AT on the button against a pretty loose bad player in the CO whom I’d 3-bet several times before. He called. The flop came T-high with a flush draw. He checked and called. … Read more…
My first table was pretty unremarkable except for Erick Lindgren a few seats to my right. He was playing a kind of loose and passive style, but he was making it work for him. After I got myself knocked out … Read more…
Once again I had some rough table draws, ending up with a lot of high-stakes cash players. As I previously explained, this is bad in an FTOPS tournament for a number of reasons. One of them took me to valuetown … Read more…
This ran simultaneously with the HORSE, and I didn’t even realize it was scheduled. I think turbo tournaments are stupid, but it was an FTOPS, I was already playing, and it as going to require close to 0% of my … Read more…
I wanted to make this post about how bad people are at Stud/8, because they are. Split pot games will rip clueless players to shreds. O/8 is a pretty easy game to get, so you don’t see quite as many … Read more…