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
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP ($2234.75)
CO ($350)
Button ($1000)
SB ($2029)
BB ($3622.05)
Hero (UTG) ($1183)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with A
, J
Hero bets $40, 2 folds, Button calls $40, 2 folds
Flop: … Read full post
…is anything else. Lots of aggressive history, plus the BB is sitting out, which always makes things fun.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 162 Tournament, 400/800 Blinds 100 Ante (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB (t13288)
BB (t16067)
UTG (t47632)
MP (t62024)
CO (t38096)
Hero (Button) (t45630)
Hero’s M… Read full post
…and not necessarily a good one.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) ($5664)
SB ($8603)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 8
, K
SB calls $25, Hero checks
Flop: ($100) K
, 2, Q (2 players)
Hero … Read full post
This time I’m on the receiving end. Villain is ordinarily a pretty big nit, but he doesn’t like me much and seems to enjoy putting moves on me. I was calling any river, though obviously this one makes it a lot easier.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($1000)
Hero (SB) ($1807.80)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, 6
Hero bets $12, BB calls $8
Flop: ($25.60) 3, 5, 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $19, … 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 and I had been heads up for a while, and based on how he’d been playing, I was pretty confident he had either a flush or a bluff on the turn but not a full house. My intention was to shove over a river bet and rep the full … Read full post
The first in a series of four videos reviewing my play at the final table of the FTOPS $2K event that I won has just been posted on Poker Savvy Plus. The video contains a lot of insight into managing final table dynamics. Without giving too much away, I can … Read full post
This is a very thin river shove to begin with. It’s not that Villain is all that likely to hold better, but it’s also hard to see him paying off with worse. My hand looks very strong here and could easily be a full house. Still, people do talk themselves … Read full post
This is another example of making a move with one of the best possible bluffs. The flop float is a little more questionable.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG ($1771.35)
MP ($1505.40)
Button ($1541.80)
Hero (SB) ($1718.80)
BB ($516)
Preflop: … 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, $6.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG ($1541.35)
Hero (MP) ($3040)
CO ($1616.80)
Button ($615.60)
SB ($1609.55)
BB ($996.10)
Preflop: Hero is MP with ??
1 fold, Hero bets $24, CO calls $24, 1 fold, SB raises to $90… Read full post
Villain is a pretty good regular. He also plays higher and is well above average for the stakes. We’ve tangled a fair bit in the recent past and have some aggressive history. I believe his turn raising range to be disproportionately semi-bluffs, possibly with as little as a gutshot but … Read full post
I usually overbet in situations where my opponent’s range consists primarily of hands that are strong but not too strong. Particularly if this is obvious to both of you, the overbet turns even the stronger part of his range into a bluff-catcher by representing either an extremely strong hand or … Read full post
This is one of my favorite spots for an overbet, either with a very strong hand like this or with a draw, because Villain’s hand is so clearly defined as marginal showdown value. To be honest, given what he shows up with, I don’t understand why he raised the turn:… Read full post
I wasn’t counting on being able to do this when I called the turn, but it’s a nice bonus:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (Button) ($400)
SB ($191.70)
BB ($1242.75)
UTG ($599)
MP ($757.80)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 9… Read full post
I get a lot of questions/comments about my underbetting, which is understandable since it’s one of the more non-standard plays in my arsenal. I think this hand illustrates one of the many advantages of such a play, which is inducing spazziness from hands that otherwise wouldn’t give you action.
Villain … Read full post
I know this isn’t the first “river semi-bluff” I’ve posted, but it never ceases to amaze me how few players do this. It’s sooooooooo unlikely anyone is checked a flush on the river, betting is a virtual freeroll.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter … Read full post
I should probably just fold pre-flop. I ran my time bank down all the way before finally deciding I’d pretty much never have a hand stronger than this and so needed to call here. When I saw his hand, I felt totally owned:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (4 handed) … 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’d been playing a 2-5 NL game at the MGM Grand for about two hours when Mary came to the table. She looked to be in her early 60’s, with a sweet face and the perfect little old lady vestments: a beige sweater with an oversized ceramic image of a … Read full post
Since we’ve got a lot of new visitors at Thinking Poker, and probably a lot of people who haven’t read my more monolithic trip reports (understandable), I’m going to start reprinting select stories that are buried in much longer narratives but that I consider among my best. This article is … 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
This guy sat down across from me at one of my HU tables with an 80BB stack and lost it on the second hand of the match. In retrospect my shove might not be great. I thought he would have raised all his strong hands on the flop, but I’m … Read full post
Full Tilt Poker hosted a Tournament of Champions today for everyone who won an FTOPS event in any of the last four series. The only prize was a $10,000 WSOP seat (no details whatsoever on how/whether it can be cashed out) to the winner, and guess who that was?
To … Read full post
I played the SCOOP Large Ante $150 and $1500 events yesterday, not even realizing what they were until the tournament started. What a lot of fun! I think formats like this are awesome because they separate the people who understand poker from those who have a robotic, if successful, strategy. … 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
Wow. Thanks to everyone who was watching and following along.
For those who weren’t, here’s the quick version:
With 10 left I was in 8th, which was a tough spot because Bakes was swinging his big stack extremely well. I pretty much couldn’t move. Finally picked up AK and ended … Read full post
We played for 10 hours, so obviously there were a lot of hands, but here are two that stick out in my head:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 250/500 Blinds 50 Ante (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG (t55790)
UTG+1 (t36186)
MP1 (t27509)
MP2 (t15323)
MP3 (t15790)… Read full post
Congratulations on busting durrrr in the following tournament:
FTOPS Event #25 (2-Day) (147664209)
Your Full Tilt Poker account has been credited with a bounty prize of $200.00.
In addition to your bounty prize money, you’ve also earned a T-shirt to commemorate your accomplishment. You’ll receive a second email that will … 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
Like the $100 rebuy, this one ran with an overlay. I was only in for $900, so I had like $240 in overlay.
It went down basically the way I expected it to: got some fish to clown off their stacks to me early, then had to play poker with … Read full post
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($2014.50)
BB ($1000)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 7, 4
Hero bets $20, BB calls $10
Flop: ($40) 6, 5, 10 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $28… Read full post
I finished 12th in this, out of 1024, meaning I made it to the Sweet 16. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about hands here because I’ll probably make a video of this for Poker Savvy Plus. But here’s the quick rundown:
Round 1- Guy was … Read full post
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($2000)
Hero (BB) ($2108)
UTG ($2060)
MP ($3164)
Button ($2916)
Preflop: Hero is BB with A, 5
2 folds, Button bets $60, 1 fold, Hero raises to $210, Button … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (Button) ($3084)
SB ($1000)
BB ($1759)
UTG ($2449)
UTG+1 ($3007)
MP1 ($2512.20)
MP2 ($2498)
CO ($2469)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 7, 5
UTG bets $20, 3 folds, CO calls $20, Hero … 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
I don’t necessarily call here vs. randoms, but these two were both red pros and knowledgeable tournament players (Jon Turner and Mandy B). Against the, it’s a mandatory snap-call. Jon isn’t the wildest player in the world, but he has to be on at least 60% of his hands here, … Read full post
Yesterday, I posted a hand where I paid a price for not blatantly jamming a big draw and discussed some of the pros and cons of playing big draws this way. Another reason not to go for the last bet when you have a big draw is when you believe … Read full post
A lot of players make too much of the idea that when you have a draw that you’re willing to get all in with, you’d prefer to make the final bet yourself. This is true when better hands will fold, but often people make huge shoves that make it pretty … Read full post
Hopefully these new suit characters will solve the problem of people not being able to see suits at work (pun):
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($1799.75)
Hero (SB) ($2339)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 2♦, 4♦
Hero bets $30… Read full post
I was betting any river, because he’s an excellent hand reader and I think it’s very hard for him to put me on anything but a big pair, but this was a particularly good card:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB … Read full post
After betting big on the turn, my range is polarized (ie I’m not doing it with KQ, 77, or 54) and weighted towards the strong side (43, KJ, 33, 44). I think Villain’s range is exactly hands that beat my bluffs but lose to my value range, with the possible … Read full post
A good player is never check-calling this river. Weaker players will, though, and they rarely check better. This guy was new to me but seemed decent and had an aggression factor of 7 over a small sample. Good reason, in other words, to think he’s not a check-caller.
PokerStars No-Limit … Read full post
I should be shoving the turn (for value), but this was still fun:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (4 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($1296.75)
UTG ($1000)
Hero (Button) ($2015)
SB ($4327)
Preflop: Hero is Button with A, 4
1 fold, Hero bets … 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
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) ($400)
UTG ($400)
MP ($300)
Button ($414)
SB ($425)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 10, A
2 folds, Button bets $12, 1 fold, Hero calls $8
Flop: ($26) 6… Read full post
I was curious who ended up winning the NAPT Venetian which I played last weekend and had to google the name “Tom Marchese”. Not only did I learn that he plays online as kingsofcards, a tough regular whom I avoid at 25/50, but I also found this kind of old … Read full post
I was playing some rush poker the other day when this hand came up against allinstevie. I recognized him from MTT’s and sit-and-go’s and quickly wrote him off as just another tourney donk. He went on to show me that he had a little tricky in him:
Full Tilt No-Limit … Read full post
I’m probably good here sometimes, and it’s close whether a call is better than a fold, but I think raising wins me the pot almost 100% of the time:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG+1 ($1114)
MP1 ($1249.25)
MP2 ($1000)
MP3 … 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
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
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($1961)
Hero (UTG) ($2651.50)
UTG+1 ($2040)
MP1 ($2474)
MP2 ($3105)
MP3 ($1027.50)
CO ($2000)
Button ($1857)
SB ($2904)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with J
, A
Hero bets $80, 3 folds, MP3 calls … 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
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $8.00 BB (3 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button ($816.20)
Hero (SB) ($2062.85)
BB ($2710)
Preflop: Hero is SB with A
, 6
1 fold, Hero bets $32, BB calls $24
Flop: ($64) 5
, 6, 5 (2 players)… Read full post
The player that I ended up sucking out on yesterday was the reason I was sitting in this 40/80 game. I didn’t recognize his name, so I sat in and started playing a bit. It quickly became apparent that he was one of the most loose and aggressive players I’d … 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
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