The thing about these professional short stackers is that they suck at playing post-flop. That’s why they buy-in short in the first place, after all. So my strategy is to make small pre-flop raises against their blinds. They win less when they shove on me, and if they really want … Read full post
This is a blatant example of a guy who is thinking about my hand and what he wants me to do but not about what I will be thinking or what his hand will look like to me:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool … Read full post
Edit: Sorry I didn’t have time to do commentary for this one when I posted it. I’ve added some discussion below.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($685)
BB ($768.15)
UTG ($2340.05)
MP ($673)
Button ($1457.95)
Preflop: Hero is SB … 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,
Full Tilt Poker recently introduced some new small stakes tables in a format they call “Rush Poker”:
… Read full postAvailable exclusively at Full Tilt Poker, Rush Poker* is the ultimate high-speed poker experience.
This new poker format is designed to minimize your wait time between hands and keep you in the action.
Truthfully, I don’t think I played this very well, but the results are pretty cool!
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG ($1209)
MP ($1027)
Hero (CO) ($1302)
Button ($1490.75)
SB ($2925)
BB ($1748)
Preflop: Hero is CO with 6
, … Read full post
Note Villain’s stack size. The river bet isn’t actually pot, it’s putting him all in for about $90.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG ($350.45)
MP ($1448.75)
Button ($1268)
SB ($845.25)
Hero (BB) ($1000)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 2… Read full post
Here’s a few miscellaneous hands I made notes to post about. These first two were from my first night here, at $5/$10 NLHE, and the last one was from today in a pretty nitty $10/$25 game with a couple tough players.
River Check-Raise
Two limpers, I complete J6s in the … Read full post
45 runners in the $500 PLO8 today, and yours truly managed to final table it, finishing 8th (we were playing 8-handed) for a whopping $875. Also at the final table was my friend and fellow Poker Savvy Plus instructor Tom Chambers, who finished 4th after a series of gross suckouts … 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
Playing in a pretty nitty 10/25 NL. UTG straddles for $50, gets two calls, I make it $275 to go with 7s 5s on my BB. Straddle folds, other two call. I’m playing about 7K, they both cover. Flop Qs 5d 5h. I bet $750, first player folds, the other … Read full post
After two hours of 5/10 NL this evening, I was up about $800. By my rough count, I’d voluntarily put money into the pot 16 times, won 13 of those pots, and saw exactly 1 showdown. I was going to leave at the next time collection, but then I played … Read full post
First hand of the day, I raise to 2500 UTG+2 with AKs. Older guy in the CO takes a minute to eye up my stack and think, then shoves some ridiculous amount like 35K. I’m pretty sure he has AQ, because of the hands he would monkey-ship, it’s the only … Read full post
We started with 30K, I was up around 50K at my peak, had 30K with two hands left to go in the day. Got into a three-way all in holding 66 on a 5h6c8c vs. 74 and AcJc. The straight held, but I won a small sidepot against the flush … Read full post
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (3 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($500)
Button ($2080)
Hero (SB) ($2060)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 3, 5
1 fold, Hero bets $40, BB raises to $100, Hero calls $60
Flop: ($200) 6, … 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,
There was a rarity on Poker Stars on Sunday: substantial overlay in one of their major tournaments. They ended up contributing nearly $100,000 in overlay to reach the 40-seat guaranteed in the $700 PCA satellite. This hand occurred with 114 players remaining. The average stack was 20K, and I figured … Read full post
I played a pretty long session at 40/80 over the weekend, definitely one of the longest I’ve played at such high stakes. It was a surprisingly tight game, with one guy who was not a fish but was noticeably weaker than the rest of us. But there really wasn’t a … Read full post
Villain here is pokerjamers, a pretty standard Pocket Fives donkamenteur hero:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 350/700 Blinds 85 Ante (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
CO (t40190)
Hero (Button) (t65575)
SB (t25644)
BB (t66189)
UTG (t192484)
MP (t67199)
Hero’s M: 42.04
Preflop: Hero is Button … Read full post
This was a pivotal hand from my third session against the same player I’ve mentioned in a few recent heads up hands I’ve posted.
He’d been 3-betting a fair bit this session, but not as much as he sometimes has. This was one of the first 4-bets I’d made this … Read full post
When trying to exploit a particular opponent, the most important question to ask yourself is, “What are the situations where his range is either tighter or wider than it ‘should’ be? When does he build pots with hands that don’t warrant such a show of strength?”
This is the same … Read full post
Sounds crazy, right? What better hand would fold? Ah, but what about the same hand?
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
CO ($3360.50)
Button ($1316)
SB ($1012.50)
BB ($2066.50)
Hero (UTG) ($2759.50)
MP ($608.40)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 7, … Read full post
Guy was a decent player, if a bit of a LAGtard. This is a pretty bracingly bad call though. Honestly, I think every move he made after the open raise was a mistake:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) ($7751)… Read full post
Villain is Matt “Mattg1983” Graham. He’s got a bracelet from the 2008 WSOP PLO $10K, but I don’t know how his PLO8 game is.
PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB (t5430)
BB (t4450)
UTG (t2960)
UTG+1 (t2520)
MP1 (t5635)
Hero … Read full post
The last two months have been pretty brutal. Certainly part of that was due to whiffing the WSOP and a few failed shots at 40/80, but even my regular games have not been going well. Unlike in past downswings, I don’t feel that I’ve experienced extraordinarily brutal luck. There were … 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 Poker, $40/$80 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
SB: $34,593
Hero (BB): $22,437
UTG: $19,010
CO: $22,366
BTN: $8,180
Pre-Flop: 8
6
dealt to Hero (BB)
3 folds, SB raises to $320, Hero calls $240
Flop: ($640) 5
4 5
(2 Players)… Read full post
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:
Standard tournament garbage. Congratulations, though, to my long-time reader and former student Diego, who made the final table! Diego, why oh why did you back out of our staking deal?!!?
Obviously I’m planning a check-raise here, but given his bet sizing, I actually think I might be better off just … Read full post
I always look forward to the PLO8 events, but I couldn’t get anything going. The opposition was beyond awful:
Full Tilt Poker Game #12159019788: FTOPS Event #11 (84242375), Table 41 – 20/40 – Pot Limit Omaha H/L – 14:20:39 ET – 2009/05/11
Seat 1: babbelz (1,028)
Seat 2: Sensor (8,220)… Read full post
I was about halfway through last night’s session, and a lot of the 6-max games I was in were kinda bad. I was at the end of a few long waiting lists, but mostly there just weren’t many good games going at the time.
I’d been sitting alone, waiting for … Read full post
I played all three tournaments: the $10K, the $1K, and the $100. Each was what I expected it to be. The $100 was monkeylicious. The 1K was soft enough for the buyin, certainly weaker play than would be found at a 5/10 cash table or a weekly 1K tournament. The … Read full post
I didn’t play the $25K, but the $2500 was plenty big enough for me. Emily and I even rearranged Easter brunch plans so that I could play it, which turned out to be a huge disappointment, as I lasted fewer than ten minutes against AJKHoosier1, my first round opponent. Obviously … Read full post
This was a pretty cool event, with one of the deepest structures in the SCOOP. The buy-in sizes were a little awkward for me, though, and I ended up playing only the $200, figuring that the $20 was too small and the $2000 (effectively $6000 with the rebuy and addon) … Read full post
I had some fierce competition in this one, but I guess that’s to be expected in a 5K. There was dpeters17, Timex, psyduck, and Poker Savvy’s very own Christian “charder30” Harder, but the player who ended up giving me the most trouble was a Pocket Fivers guy named Wretchy. I … Read full post
I made a decent run in the $500 6-max on Wednesday, and though I didn’t do as well in the $5K, there were interesting hands from both, so I’m going to do two different posts.
I lost about half my stack early on in the $500, but managed to recover. … Read full post
Unlike most players, I enjoy Razz. Yeah, it can be infuriating, but it’s also kind of elegant in its simplicity. I spend most of this tournament catching well, so even though I didn’t cash, it was fun. The only really interesting hand to come up was this one, where I … Read full post
Once upon a time I considered myself a pretty decent Stud/8 player, but I’ve probably played fewer than 1000 hands in the last 6 months. Consequently, $1500 was a little more than I wanted to put behind my skillz. I did play the $150, though, and had a good time … Read full post
Edit: Fixed title. This is SCOOP, not FTOPS. Was tired and tilted last night when posting this.
I was really looking forward to this event, as I’ve been working on my heads up game of late. I played both the $1500 and the $150 and had reasonable tough first round … Read full post
I was going to play the HORSE event, but the buyins just didn’t line up right for me. The 10K was out of the question, even the 1K was a touch high, and the $100 was too small for me to add two hours onto what was already a potentially … Read full post
I hate turbos, but they are quick, so I chose to play the $15 and the $150 but not the $1500. Sure enough, within an hour I was reduced to push/fold on both tables. I actually picked up a lot of big hands in the $150, but it didn’t do … Read full post
Thankfully the cash games I was playing on the side went well, because the tournaments did not. I played the $50 and $500 rebuys, but decided to skip the $5. I was thinking it might be fun to play despite the small stakes, but then I saw that there were … Read full post
To top off a great weekend, I played and won my second $2000 satellite to the $10,000 WCOOP main event. The first one I played, which I replayed for Poker Savvy Plus, had only 9 runners and paid one seat plus a lot cash. This one got 52 runners, paying … Read full post
For the second time this year, I’ve dug myself out of a big old hole. Let’s hope it’s the last (that I need to). Here’s the hand that did it:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $50.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button ($9411)
SB ($5550)
BB ($20776)
UTG … Read full post
Day started with something like 136 players and 20,000 chips each. I spend most of the day in good shape, never amassing a huge stack but maintaining near or above the average. Then I made a big move on Joe Sebok on the very last hand of the night:
Daniel … Read full post
Although this worked, I think it’s really awful play on my part. I am representing a ridiculously narrow range (like QQ and maybe KK) and even those don’t necessarily make sense. This guy was just frustrating me because he wasn’t folding to 3-bets ever and was just generally being a … Read full post
I’m not much for watching televised poker, but from what I’ve seen, if you’re going to watch anything, High Stakes Poker is the show to watch. Although I didn’t see this hand go down, I heard it discussed quite a bit by Aaron “aejones” Jones and Rob “Bobbfitos” Eckstut on … Read full post
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($1905)
Hero (Button) ($1104.50)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 3
, 2
Hero bets $30, SB calls $20
Flop: ($60) K, 3, K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $44… Read full post
I was playing a decent but not great player heads up, and the match had been close, with first him then me having the upper hand, until I tried to bluff him off of trips:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($2045.50)… Read full post
The first few levels of this tournament were pretty uneventful, but eventually I won a coin flip to get up to an average stack. Then I floated for a few hours, through the bubble, on twenty big blinds or so.
This was maybe the most interesting hand I played, fairly … Read full post
From yesterday’s Sunday Million:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $200+$15 Tournament, 600/1200 Blinds 100 Ante (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) (t30683)
UTG (t23180)
UTG+1 (t69583)
MP1 (t45234)
MP2 (t42249)
MP3 (t22891)
CO (t38571)
Button (t32005)
SB (t14539)
Hero’s M: 11.36
Preflop: Hero is BB with … Read full post
From yesterday’s Sunday Million:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $200+$15 Tournament, 600/1200 Blinds 100 Ante (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) (t30683)
UTG (t23180)
UTG+1 (t69583)
MP1 (t45234)
MP2 (t42249)
MP3 (t22891)
CO (t38571)
Button (t32005)
SB (t14539)
Hero’s M: 11.36
Preflop: Hero is BB with … Read full post
Also, don’t raise 52s in middle position.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($1033)
UTG ($1233.55)
MP ($3131.75)
CO ($1000)
Hero (Button) ($1150)
SB ($2026)
Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, A
1 fold, MP bets $30, 1 … Read full post
On my recent post, “Defining His Range Into Oblivion“, tce left a comment that I felt warranted a new post:
… Read full postThis is a tantalizing post with some really interesting ideas that need more meat. Can you say more? In my experience, trying to blow someone off an Ax
What a donkey. I’m never 3-betting worse for value here, and it’s not a spot where I’m prone to bluff, either.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button ($2030)
Hero (SB) ($4011.75)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, Q
Button … Read full post
As I’ve said many times before, my preference in Stud tournaments is not to build big pots on 3rd street. That’s generally a high-variance, low-edge strategy, and it makes otherwise large mistakes on future streets much less severe. Unfortunately, people were being stupidly aggressive on 3rd, seemingly raising at every … Read full post
Not surprisingly, the quality of play in this was something like atrocious. Judging from the chat and general play, I was at a table full of clowns, which was cool. My favorite hand saw a guy raise pre-flop, and get two callers, and then bet 2x pot on A44 flop. … Read full post
I almost didn’t play this because my experience with limit tournaments has always been that even if I am not doing well they take forever. At least in NLHE if it isn’t going well you don’t waste a lot of time on it. Well, I managed to eliminate myself in … Read full post
Given the deep stacks, short-handed format, and substantial buy-in, this was probably the FTOPS event I was looking forward to the most. Sadly, the other players at my table were giant nits during the rebuy period. I got AK on the first hand and open shoved, then shoved a more … Read full post
I almost didn’t play this because my experience with limit tournaments has always been that even if I am not doing well they take forever. At least in NLHE if it isn’t going well you don’t waste a lot of time on it. Well, I managed to eliminate myself in … Read full post
Not a lot to say about this one. Only remotely interesting hand was this one:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 60/120 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
CO: 5,090
BTN: 10,960
SB: 3,465
BB: 9,106
Hero (UTG): 4,070
UTG+1: 6,958
UTG+2: 7,021
MP1: 9,145
MP2: 7,050
Pre-Flop:… Read full post
I took an early exit from this tournament on a coin flip:
Full Tilt Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament, 20/40 Blinds (8 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (MP1) (t4925)
MP2 (t5142)
CO (t5938)
Button (t4775)
SB (t8994)
BB (t5025)
UTG (t5146)
UTG+1 (t5070)
Hero’s M: 82.08
Preflop… Read full post
This guy was decent in some ways but pretty insanely loose and aggressive. I don’t think he ever folded to a 3-bet pre-flop (I probably should have made my raise size bigger), and there was a lot of 4-betting going on. For the most part, I just hung back, made … Read full post
I pretty much never open limp, with the occasional exception of being in very early position, usually UTG, at a full ring table. This is particularly true in tournaments, because there is so much value in stealing the pot pre-flop and stacks aren’t generally deep enough to play a wide … Read full post