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 … Read full post
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG (t4465)
Hero (UTG+1) (t5220)
MP1 (t5035)
MP2 (t5865)
MP3 (t5000)
CO (t4955)
Button (t4460)
SB (t4970)
BB (t5030)
Hero’s M: 116.00
Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 3
, 3
1 fold, … Read full post
I had some tough tables in the USA COOP main event, full of aggressive tournament regulars. There was a ton of raising 3-betting, and when one player got disconnected and was not around to defend his blind, sparks really flew. I happened to have the button when the disconnected player … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Joseph Cheong WSOP Final Table “Blow Up“, has just been published in the December 2010 issue of 2+2 Magazine. It’s an in-depth analysis of the complex factors at play in the infamous A7 vs. QQ hand, many of which have been overlooked by … Read full post
This wasn’t anything that I planned from the get-go. It was just that on each street, I kept feeling like he could be weak enough for an underbet to show a profit. I almost shoved the turn, and then I was like, “Screw it, 80% of what he folds to … Read full post
Before I became a serious poker player, I loved to watch poker on TV. Now, I can hardly stand it. I did watch a few episodes of this year’s WSOP broadcast, mostly from the days I expected to be on there and for the final table coverage. It’s clearly increased … Read full post
About 3 hours into today’s $300 6-max, I got moved to a table with two Pocket Fives superstars. One was to my immediate right, and one two seats to my left. We tangled in a few interesting spots, and while I definitely got the best of the one on my … Read full post
FWIW I shouldn’t have 3-bet this guy pre-flop because he rarely calls but often 4-bets and KQs isn’t quite so good that I’m happy about 3-bet-calling it (although I did after remembering who this guy was).
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com… Read full post
I’ve just finished reading and reviewing Harrington on Online Cash Games, certainly one of the most anticipated poker books of the year. Here’s the two-minute version:
… Read full postHOCG is the single best resource I’ve seen for anyone just starting out online or still learning to beat the microstakes games (i.e. stakes
It was a good table draw but a bad tournament for me. The only player I recognized from the start was Jason Strasser, who is of course very very good but was thankfully seated two to my right. Everyone else was solid enough but not spectacular.
The table was active … Read full post
After 14.5 hours, I managed to take 3rd out of 1066 runners in the $500 1 Rebuy 1 Add-on. It was a very very tough tournament from start to finish. I at least felt like I had a much more difficult time than in the FTOPS that I won. Of … Read full post
Players were matched with our Round 5 opponents last night, so I had the chance to google my adversary. He looked to be a Pocket Fives guy who used to play some big MTT’s like the daily 100r and such but lately had been playing a lot $16 hyper-turbo sit … Read full post
We played four rounds today. The first one started at 13:00 and I finished a little before 20:00, though many tables were still playing for some time thereafter.
My first opponent was by far the toughest. He’s a regular with a in biggest NLHE games on Poker Stars, not as … Read full post
I wasn’t going to play the first $200 because it started so early in the day (10AM here on the West coast), and I knew today was already going to be a long day. But I happened to notice that it had over 8000 runners, making it essentially a Sunday … Read full post
Today was the $300 Antes Up WCOOP event, which I think is just a fantastic tournament structure. For those who don’t know, the blinds stay at 5/5 for the entire tournament, but the antes increase with each level. So like the stakes could be 5/5/120, with a pre-flop pot of … Read full post
Although we started with 325 BB’s, I managed to blow off my stack in just about an hour.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 1050 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button (t7525)
Hero (SB) (t7834)
BB (t7303)
UTG (t7333)
UTG+1 (t7315)
MP1 (t7530)
MP2 (t7720)
MP3 (t7470)… Read full post
The second installment of my trip report from the main event of the 2010 World Series of Poker, covering Days 3 and 4, has just been published in the September issue of 2+2 Magazine. Here’s an excerpt:
… Read full postI came into Day 4 with a monster stack relative to the field.
This first hand is an interesting juxtaposition to the failed bluff that I posted yesterday. On the one hand, this player was more of a known quantity than was yesterday’s Villain. On the other hand, my range is way wider in this situation, and I think calling with something like … Read full post
I won’t be a back-to-back champion in the $2000 2-day FTOPS. I actually had quite good luck with my table draws, recognizing no one at my starting table and only two players over the course of the three and a half hours I played: Eric Froehlich and Tmay. The two … Read full post
I had a solid Sunday today, no wins but made two deep runs. I took 2nd out of nearly 1000 runners in the Stars $150 6-max. The competition was surprisingly tough for a $150 tournament: I recognized three good players at my starting table, and the last few tables were … Read full post
I’ve been taking a beating in heads up games recently. There were one or two cases of bad game selection, but for the most part I don’t think I’ve playing or running all that badly. I’m losing to people against whom I’m pretty confident I have an edge, not because … Read full post
This year’s WSOP journey ended for me about an hour ago. Out of more than 7000 players, I finished 87th and won just shy of $80,000. There was nothing dramatic about it. I lost two very standard pre-flop hands to Eric Baldwin, once with A4s < KJs for a 700K … Read full post
What a run. In the last two days I’ve 20x’ed my chips without ever seeing TT, QQ, KK, or AA. I did have AK quite a few times today, though, and I connected with a few flops when it counted.
I stole more than my share of pots for a … Read full post
Today was everything that Wednesday was not, namely fun and profitable. I had a very enjoyable table and showed a handsome profit to boot.
Early on I doubled up with Q’s vs. 9’s on a 4h 4s 3h 2h board. We both had a heart, so he was in real … Read full post
Villain is a high-stakes MTT and SNG player who’s recently been sitting in the shallow high-stakes cash games as well. Despite his success, my opinion of him is that he makes a lot of borderline-bad calls and shoves. Probably I just think that because historically he’s run well vs. me … Read full post
Different opponents, but similar mistakes:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($2300.05)
UTG ($1358.40)
MP ($1222.80)
CO ($616)
Hero (Button) ($2405.20)
SB ($3304.20)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 10
, 9
1 fold, MP bets $12, 1 fold, … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($3733)
Hero (BB) ($2918)
UTG ($2394)
MP ($2100)
CO ($2000)
Button ($5294)
Preflop: Hero is BB with J, 8
1 fold, MP bets $60, CO calls $60, 2 folds, Hero raises … Read full post
These are both from the Poker Stars weekly $500.
Hand 1, I think re-raising at either opportunity pre-flop makes me look really strong, and pretty much any hand that can stack off to that pre-flop is going to lose a lot on most flops anyway:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, … Read full post
I played both the 250 and the 2500 but not the 25K. Go ahead, call me a nit.
My first opponent in the 250 was absolutely awful. He played 63/1 over the course of the match (he open limped his button when he didn’t fold it) and played pretty badly … Read full post
I ended up doing quite well in this one, finishing 5th out of more than 1400 runners. On the whole it was a lot of fun to play so short-handed and I felt I played well, but a monumental error in my final hand left a bad taste in my … Read full post
Last night, as I was sleep-deprived and caffeine-jittery and getting deep in the $300 SCOOP 4-Max, I was also on the phone with Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz, hosts of the 2+2 Pokercast on which I am this week’s feature guest! You can search for it on iTunes or listen … Read full post
Don’t Try to Bluff a Guy Named Psycho
This one’s a little embarrassing. I shoved turn here hoping to get him off a mid-pair, but here’s what happened instead:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 6000/12000 Blinds 1500 Ante (8 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (CO) (t497480)
Button … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, No Such Thing as a Free Hunch, is now appearing in the May issue of 2+2 Magazine:
… Read full postYou’ve undoubtedly heard it said before that poker is a battle for information. At least among good players, the one who has the most information about
We’re just inside of 100 people left in the monthly FTP $500, down from a little over 2000 who started.
UTG is a random who definitely does not play these stakes with any regularity. Googling his name reveals a few $.05/$.10 hands, so I’m sure he’s a satellite qualifier. He’s … Read full post
I made it down to 300 or so in the Sunday Million today, thanks in no small part to a gamble relatively early on:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 500/1000 Blinds 75 Ante (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com
MP1 (t11074)
MP2 (t21590)
MP3 (t47491)
CO (t62986)
Button … Read full post
I ran deep in the $300 6-max on Full Tilt today. For much of the end-game, I had a player on my right who I recognized from the 2+2 forums but whom I’d never played for. To the best of my knowledge, he is a successful tournament pro and also … Read full post
From the same HU match:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com
Hero (BB) ($1875)
SB ($2356.50)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 3
, 6
SB bets $20, Hero calls $10
Flop: ($40) 2
, 5
, 9 (2 players)… Read full post
A commenter on yesterday’s re-squeeze hand remarked that even at high stakes he felt like Villain would pretty much always have AK when he overcalled the first pre-flop raise and then shoved over a re-raise and a call. Having just played this hand, I couldn’t resist posting it:
PokerStars No-Limit … Read full post
Villain, a decent reg, ridiculed my call here, but I think he was just tilted. I need less than 40% equity, and while he can maybe have QQ here, I’d say he has KK+ and AK pretty much never (note that he’s the second caller of the initial raise).
PokerStars … Read full post
Just as a quick follow-up to yesterday’s review of GoGo Wireless on AirTran, I thought I’d let everyone know that the free wireless internet at Boston’s Logan Airport is also quite suitable for poker playing:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $80.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com… Read full post
The FTOPS main event started at 3PM PST. I busted the NAPT around 3:20 and booked it back up to my room to late register. Obviously immediately after experience some bad luck in a big live tournament, I wasn’t in a mindset to play the best poker of my life, … Read full post
My
starting table had not a lot of chips but a couple of notable players, including Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, Andrew Chen, Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo, and Lauren Kling. We broke after less than an hour, but I still managed to play a few interesting pots. Also, a very friendly reader … Read full post
75/150 I limp UTG with Ac Qc. Folds to the SB, who completes, and BB checks.
Flop Js Td 9s. Checks to me, I bet 300, SB calls. I think he can have any pair and even a few draws that I’m beating.
Turn 2d. He checks, I bet 900 … Read full post
The table started out pretty soft, with only two players I recognized at the table. Unfortunately, Jon “fatalerror” Aguiar and Bill Chen were on my immediate left. Bill didn’t get involved in too many pots, but Jon sure did.
Early on, I raised 55 on my CO and called a … Read full post
This one of his first 4-bets, but this guy was very aggressive with his 3-bets pre-flop, and I had an inkling he was light. My hand isn’t a bad one to jam pre-flop, but I decided just to call and check-shove if I caught any piece. A gutshot, an overcard, … Read full post
I played this guy bawaa heads up on a couple of tables the other day. He played well and it was a wild match, with me taking an early lead, then getting stuck 6-7 buy-ins, then clawing my way back to even. After more than 1000 hands, I was up … Read full post
At a cash table, anyway. I’m sure I’ve sucked out a few times at the WSOP in pots that were worth a lot more than this in equity.
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 … Read full post
I’m a little late in mentioning this, but my latest poker strategy article, “Thinking Ahead”, is now appearing in the February issue of 2+2 Magazine. I’m a little frustrated that I couldn’t find a way to express myself quite as clearly as I would have liked, but I … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) ($1274.50)
UTG ($955)
UTG+1 ($824)
MP1 ($1508)
MP2 ($1042)
CO ($1015)
Button ($1230)
SB ($490)
Preflop: Hero is BB with J
, K
2 folds, MP1 bets $20, 4 folds, Hero … Read full post
I posted the other day about a sexy river check-raise that resulted in my opponent abruptly quitting on me, up about a buyin and a half. He found me Sunday and we played two tables of heads up for 4-5 hours. Initially, I was owning him. He was opening 100% … Read full post
One month into 2010, it’s time to review my progress towards my Yearly Resolutions.
… Read full postGoal 1: Average 15 Hours/Week Playing My “Regular” Games
I’ve found that 15 hours/week enables me to earn a pretty healthy income, far more than I could make at any real job I could get,
I believe I’m generally pretty good about not tilting, but for whatever reason some stuff was getting under my skin the other night. I felt like I’d been losing a lot of pots to bad luck, and though it’s hard for me to keep accurate track of how I’m doing … Read full post
100/200, very young kid in CO opens to 450, I call with Js 9s in SB, relatively bad German calls in the BB. Flop Q c Tc 5s. I consider leading out but decide to check, and we check it through. Turn is a blank, I bet 750, BB raises … Read full post
Resolution One: Keep Grinding NLHE Cash Games
This is my bread and butter game, and even if I don’t do anything to improve,
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($7800.50)
BB ($4029.50)
Preflop: Hero is SB with A
, K
Hero bets $60, BB raises to $220, Hero raises to $499, BB calls $279
Flop: ($998) 2, … Read full post
I feel like it’s been happening a lot recently (though sometimes it’s ended well.)
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
CO ($2000)
Button ($1189.50)
SB ($2014)
Hero (BB) ($2030)
UTG ($2429.50)
MP ($5521.95)
Preflop: Hero is BB with A, A… Read full post
A comment on a recent post about the squeeze play observed that a pretty intense dynamic can arise in situations where more than one player recognizes a good squeezing opportunity. I think this is a good example:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from … Read full post
I just published what I think is a very interesting instructional video with Poker Savvy Plus. It’s actually the second in a series (I hesitate to call it that since it’s been months since the first part) called The Parable of Tighty McNuts.
I have no delusions of … Read full post
I recently made another appearance on Cardplayer’s “Run It Twice” feature, discussing a hand that regular blog readers will recognize:
“I just don’t think he’s telling a consistent story on the turn and the river. On the river, now, all of a sudden he wants me to believe … Read full post
Given the difficulty I’ve had recently getting heads up action, I’ve put some thought into how the risk of provoking a quit ought to factor into my decisions. It seems there are certain situations, usually winning or losing a big pot, that greatly increase the chances of an opponent quitting. … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who commented on my recent post “You Tell Me: How’d We Do?“. I’ll address a couple of the great questions and comments here and share my own thoughts.
1. The pre-flop 3-bet. I’m certainly not doing this everytime I have J9s, but my 3-betting range … Read full post
I did a “Turning Point” segment today with Cardplayer’s Kristy Arnett about a key hand from Day 2A of the WSOP.
Just to provide a little more detail about the hand: blinds were 300/600/75. I opened to 1500 with KJo, Luca Pagano called, Grant Levy made it 4500 on the … Read full post
Full Tilt
Maybe I haven’t forgotten how to play tournaments altogether? I went into yesterdays’ session resolved not to LAG off too many stacks in my tournaments, and while I didn’t entirely keep that pledge, I did play a pretty disciplined game in the Stars $300. To wit:
Button ($1000)
SB ($1195.75)
Hero (BB) ($2396)
UTG ($1232)
MP ($1679)
CO ($1052)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, 10
2 folds, CO bets $30, Button calls $30, SB calls $25, Hero
I lasted no more than 15 minutes in this tournament and got 3-bet no fewer than four times. The final time, I raised 44 in the SB, shoved over a 3-bet from the BB, and lost the flip to AQ.
Poker Savvy’s Dani “Ansky” Stern final tabled this one, but … Read full post