1st step to Australia

If you've ever played in the Poker After Dark, or the Aussie Givaway freeroll sit n go's on Fulltilt, then you know what these tournaments are like: typically during the first 5 hands +, there will be 3-6 all-ins, hoping to double-through quick and coast towards a finish. To survive, you've got to avoid SO many pitfalls -- like the awesome power of the Q7o which won the 1st hand 4-way all-in at my table, and other such lovely occurrences. Any resemblance to "real poker" doesn't come about until about the final two tables, where before that each move is becomes an all-in or fold by the river, with rarely an in-between.

So last night I had time to kill before my brother and his best friend flew into town, and I filled it by playing probably about 10 PAD and Aussie Giveaway freerolls, multi-tabling at least 2 at a time, and up to 4. They can be SO maddening. But after some initial frustration, you either quit playin' em, or you adjust. I adjusted.

315 runners. At one point, with 22 left, I was in 4th chip position, and won only 7 hands (and only involved in 9): 1 preflop, one on the flop, and then all 5 of my showdowns. That's right - if you're going to a showdown early in these tournaments (and pre-final table is early with these), you'd better be willing to get your whole stack in there. The last time I got deep in one of these (made 5th in one once), I played similarly: waited for big hands, pushed them when they came, and let the 64o and the K5s donk their chips to me.

I wish I could say there is some overall killer strategy for these, but really it's simple patience, and then when you get a big hand put your chips in the middle and hope for the best. I played 3 simultaneously, and one I busted around 30th, one PAD with 600+ runners I busted around 40th, and then this one I took down. Slow-playing, trapping, check-raising -- all these are way too fancy for these tournaments, where to many bottom pair is gold. Push small edges (and bottom pair is NOT a small edge). You flop the nutz, bet out, you'll probably get raised all-in, and then you call and double or triple up. Before the final 2 tables it was almost all all-in or fold poker.

Once it got down to the final two tables and I had a big stack, I was able to make some steals and re-steals against other big stacks. Final table was a waiting game -- the mid-stacks were looking to get it all in preflop, so when my 88 in the cutoff was re-raised all-in (I had him covered), it was a no brainer to call. Q6s went down to my 88 (a 3rd 8 on the river was overkill).

For the 3-way, and the HU battle, I have to once again thank riggstad for his 'coaching' during the last break during last week's Riverchasers tournament. My heads up play had suffered so much lately, and one tiny push in the right direction has been amazing for my game. We were practically even HU, but I stole some pots with naked aggression, and frustrated the heck out of my opponent with endless raises and continuation bets. Last hand was a bit dicey:

Seat 7: gsw61515 (241,068)
Seat 9: RuneStone (231,432)
gsw61515 posts the small blind of 4,000
RuneStone posts the big blind of 8,000
Dealt to gsw61515 [6c Js]
gsw61515 calls 4,000
RuneStone raises to 16,000
gsw61515 calls 8,000

I had been raising here with most any face card, but I had just stolen 3 pots in a row from him, so decided to slow down. Calling his min-raise was a no-brainer, as from what I could tell his steal attempts were weak at best.

*** FLOP *** [4h 6h Jh]

Here's where it's dicey: if he's got two hearts I'm drawin' slim... I have top two though. If he has 2 hearts he's slow-playing here, I'm sure of it -- I make so many continuation bets that he would at the very least check-raise the flop. He seemed so predictable as I watched him at the final two tables (he was on the other table, but I opened it up to "scout" the competition).

RuneStone bets 32,000
No slow play = not two hearts!
gsw61515 raises to 225,068, and is all in
massive overbet, I know; I'm trusting my read that he'd slow play hearts. In these tournaments the craziest hands will call your all-ins
RuneStone calls 183,432, and is all in
gsw61515 shows [6c Js]
RuneStone shows [7d 6d]
SWEEEET! Save for running 7's, I'm GOLD!
Uncalled bet of 9,636 returned to gsw61515
*** TURN *** [4h 6h Jh] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [4h 6h Jh Qd] [As]
gsw61515 shows two pair, Jacks and Sixes
RuneStone shows a pair of Sixes
gsw61515 wins the pot (462,864) with two pair, Jacks and Sixes

And that, dear readers, is how you get through a complete donkfest. It took at least 14 attempts; last night about 10 attempts, when the deepest I got was about 50 of the 600+. I played 4 today, getting deep in 3 of them. I guess that's how "normal" tournament poker can go too -- huge number of barely-cashes or busto's before a big score. Guess that means I should be getting closer to the big score!!

....if only the $28K's attracted this type of play! I'm tellin' ya, though, yea you gotta get cards to win this thing, but more important I think was patience, and pushing what I thought were small edges. If I can bring that into the bigger games, I'm well on my way to bigger online tournament success.

strategy link:

...so I've said that something has "clicked" in my tournament (and sit n go) play that I couldn't really describe well. Thankfully, due to the plethora of poker blogs out there, I chanced upon a post that is a description of the brand I've been playing (to an extent). Blinders writes about The Black and White MTT Strategy, and is an excellent strategy outline.

...while I haven't gotten to it yet, the "Missing Pieces" follow-up post is sure to be a good read too...

One of these days when I'm not at work or playing or whining about some bad beats, I'll try to outline what it is I've been doing that's been working for me. It's a little different than Blinders' post, but his comes close I'd say.

2-table sit n go's

Started to really dig these. The $5.50 18-person sit n go's are either super-duper-fishy, or I'm simply on a heater. I swear, though, something has "clicked" in my tournament play, and I wish I could put my finger on it. I've cashed in the last 5 or 6 18-seaters I've played, including one win, 2 2nds, 1 4th, and the other 2 or 3 were 3rd. I took one seriously awful beat last night; an uber-aggressive guy holding about 70% of the chips in play was big-betting everything; when I was shortstacked and he shoved in the SB, I figured my J10 was probably already ahead, but either way I couldn't fold at that point. Here's how the hand played out:

Alright, I'll spare ya the details: dude had like 20K, I had like 2500, he bet 3K I called with J10o; he's got 8 3. Hits an 8 on the turn and a 3 on the river (or vice-versa). Thnx, gg.

I've found one of the strategies I use is to basically let people make mistakes, and then capitalize on them. There are so many players that will play and overplay hands like 2nd pair that I just wait for opportunities where they overplay a hand and I take it from them. Bunch of the players around this level don't know how to bluff at a pot: they'll min-bet 100 on the river into a pot of 800; I have anything I'm calling but most likely I'm raising. Too many players over-use the check/raise too, which I'll use to my advantage when I have a big hand and when I have a drawing hand (I swear if every player I played at this level lost the check/raise from their repertoire, they'd get more chips from me - honest! I'm willing to pay a certain amount for certain draws, but if they bet me out they don't stand a chance to take more chips from me on the turn).

Look, I'm not saying don't check-raise: in fact I actually use it slightly more today than I used to (I used to almost never use it), but it's got its places.

Anyway, the poker playing is going well for me lately. Even ventured back into the $10 stt world last night (where I used to almost exclusively play), and took 2nd. As usual, one boneheaded move heads up crippled me, but I was happy with the 2nd. I think I'm ready to tackle the $10 18-seaters next. Just hope I don't run into Riggstad, but I guess that's expected since I think he spends most waking hours in those games.

I'm tired; I'm going to bed real soon. I forgot about the MATH; hopefully one of these weeks I'll remember. Wednesday is The Mookie:
When: Wednesday. 10pm ET
Game: NLHE Deepstack
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1

Don't forget to visit my writing blog as well; not much creative-stuff flowing recently but some thoughts (and questions) about Life, the Universe, and Nothing. Comments are always welcomed.

The Ferguson

That's what I got for 3 hours and 45 minutes of tournament playing.

I entered the Ferguson, the $1 tournament that starts 10:30pm pacific. I've entered a couple times in the past, and donked out of it - played incredibly recklessly to try to accumulate chips early, and bombed out each time. Tonight I decided I'd try to actually win the thing. I took chances when I could; I performed an awesome suck out with A10 vs AA (which got the chick so pissy she railed for about 15 minutes about it and didn't shut up until someone agreed to transfer her $1), and generally played very well... most of my steal attempts worked (probably because I played incredibly tight), most re-steals worked, and until I made a totally boneheaded move in a battle of the blinds, I was coasting...albeit at the bottom of the list, but still with a chance; really one double-up and I would've been mid-pack.

While the 6 bucks is no big deal, what IS a big deal to me, is that the starting field was 1,292 deep. From a money standpoint nothing with any significance happened until the final 5, but just knowing now that I am able to wade through a huge field like this is a boost to my confidence. Granted, there's a chance that the $28K's and bigger tournaments will attract a more .. uhm.. 'refined' crowd than the $1 Ferguson, but if I play a similar brand of tournament poker that I did in this, and in the RPT tourny last night, I think I can make a run at one of these bigger tournaments.

Stats for the tournament:
Flops seen: 33, 13%
Tunrs: 19, 8%
Rivers: 15, 5%
Showdown: 12, 5%
this here tells me that when I'm going to the river I'm planning on a showdown most every time

Where'd I win the hands?
Preflop: 11
Flop: 5
Turn: 1
River: 2
Showdown: 8

I'm happy with these stats. Squeaky-tight I think, but that's the brand I play. The one thing I'm most psyched about with these stats, is that I saw 12 showdowns, and won 8 of them. I won 75% of the showdowns. That's good stuff.

I'll be hitting a couple of the 18-seat token sit n go's tomorrow, and possibly entering a satellite or 2 for one of the two big Sunday tournaments.

Vegas was a boost to my poker-playing mindset. I played great poker while there (except for that one stupid move), and the confidence I won there seems to have boiled over into my current online playing. I'm feeling totally on top of my game, so much so that I'm contemplating renting a car tomorrow and hitting the Tulalip for some NL cash games (well, 2-500 spread limit, but it pretty much plays the same as NL games the size I typically play). I need to invest in Flexcar.

I'm exhausted; must get to bed.

Tournament Goodness

Feels good to win. Whether it's a 6 person $2.25 sit n go, an 18-person token turbo, or a 40 person RPT online tournament. I'm sure it feels just as good in bigger ones, but honestly that's the biggest online tourny I've taken down.

It was quite a miracle in a way - I was 10th of 10 for a long time; I think when we were at 12 I only had around 2K in chips, but caught the right cards and had people call me at the right times, and the hand before the final table I busted someone & became chip leader. I was playing so tight that at one point I was affraid I'd blind myself all the way out; however some aggressive moves here n there, along with the tight image, helped me along.

Here was the hardest call I had to make:
I've got about 50K, peacecorn has 31K, blinds 800/1600/200

gsw61515 [8c Ac]
gsw61515 raises to 3,600
peacecorn has 15 seconds left to act
peacecorn raises to 10,000
gsw61515 has 15 seconds left to act
gsw61515 has requested TIME
gsw61515 calls 6,400

If we're not 3-handed here, I'm tossing this hand, chalking it up to a failed steal. 3-handed, though, with the button already folded, there's a decent chance I'm ahead here. If I whiff the flop, I have to go away.

*** FLOP *** [As Kd Kh]

This is a good - and a bad - flop for me. GOOD: I have top pair; I also called a re-raise which may make peacecorn put me on a hand like AK or KQ etc... at the same time I honestly don't know what to do. If they really put me on AK/KQ/AQ then they may not call if I bet. However, I'm also concerned that peacecorn may have AK. I'm really stumped; if they have AK they've got the nuts here, and will probably try to entice me to bet, or value bet, or something.

gsw61515 checks <--- yea, I know, kind of weak
peacecorn bets 20,970, and is all in

My first thought is that I'm sick to my stomache. My second thought is, if they have AK why are they trying to shove me out of the pot? If they've got an ace, we're probably splitting; if they have a king then oh well, not my night; plus I'd still have around 20K left, still far from out of the running.

gsw61515 has 15 seconds left to act
gsw61515 calls 20,970
peacecorn shows [Qs Qc]
gsw61515 shows [8c Ac]
AlCantHang (Observer): yahtzee
*** TURN *** [As Kd Kh] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [As Kd Kh 2c] [4c]
AlCantHang (Observer): wow
peacecorn shows two pair, Kings and Queens
gsw61515 shows two pair, Aces and Kings
gsw61515 wins the pot (62,540) with two pair, Aces and Kings

Some will call that a sick call, some will call that a donkey call, some will call that a reckless call... my point though is this: is it more reckless to call an all-in with top pair / weak kicker, or to shove into an AKK board with Queens? They've got to know I play tight, and I called a large preflop raise - if I don't have an ace, a king, or both in my hand, then they haven't been paying attention to how tight I play. And being down to 3 I know that a) I have to open-up my starting hand requirements, and b) I need to win this baby!

Felt good. It's odd, and this may sound totally kooky, but I felt like I was in the "zone." I felt like I knew when to get out of the way, and when to push with air. Even when I was at like 2K with 12 left, I wasn't panicked, and waited for my spot. Most of this tournament - until heads up - I waited for my spots. I wish I had seen my stats prior to the final 3; at one point I checked and I'd only seen like 13% of the flops. Dan Harrington would've been proud. :)

Thanks go out to riggstad for a little coaching session during the last break; it's good to be reminded of things.

HU was me weilding my chip stack like a light saber, swinging at everything in sight, raising 75-85% of the hands preflop, ducking when my raises were picked off (not often) if I had total trash, and being an all-around bully. It was fast action; I believe I frustrated my opponent by raising so often and liberally that they ended up starting to over-commit with marginal hands, and didn't know what to do when they missed the flop or when I re-raised. Last hand I was lucky enough to turn 2 pair, my opponent was unlucky enough to river a lower 2 pair, thanks gg.

Busto Mookie, Segundo Dookie

So these blogger tourny's I've played in just kinda get me riled a bit. I get tired of ppl making moves that I know have GOT to be steals, yet I just don't have enough to risk against it. Or other such stuff. Tonight I played well I thought. Lost some after the start, gained some back - still below average, but with a healthy stack I picked up AKs in MP, & standard raise. Button, with about half my stack shoves. Folds to me, I call - AQ. Q on the flop seals it for him.

Worst part about this? Afterwards, he says in chat, "Sorry gsw, I had a bad feeling you were going to flip over AK, too." Nothin' like rubbin' salt into the wounds.

Yada yada yada some hands later I've been going backwards, & pick up 10 10 in the BB. Button makes a standard raise (thieving I fiugre), I shove - button calls with KK, thanks gg.

Busted JUST in time for the start of the Dookie HORSE tourny. Give me razz, Stud Hi & structured betting & I can do quite well. As a matter of fact:


For most of the tourny I hovered in the top 5. By the time we got heads-up I was so severely outchipped that it would've taken a miracle. And no miracles tonight, ladies and gents. I was, however, quite happy with a 2nd place finish. Almost all of the 3-handed play I sat back and blinded out; it looked like riggstad was on a mission to bust himself so I figured I'd let him (I got a bit cold-decked too). Last game we played was Stud Hi/Lo which is probably my weakest game, so it was only fitting I should go out on that one.

I may start entering some more stud tournaments actually -- I played one two weeks ago on tilt (their weekend forum tourny, top 3 prizes were $26 tokens, & a little cash for 4-6). For the vast majority of the tournament I was the leader. There's something about that game that makes it that much easier for me to try to pull off bluffs: even if I have garbage underneath, I see the other guy has garbage up and just attack him. Well that tourny I ended up out in 5th (blinds get so high that one bad hand and you're crippled); but it was fun and I played really well. In tonight's Dookie the two games I collected the most chips during were Stud Hi and Razz.

Perhaps it's time to branch out of Hold'em games.

How NOT to play 2 pair

Caesar's $1/$3 game; was playing more like a 2/5 game (average preflop raise was $15) with a $500 max buy in. Fairly aggressive, but were still a number of limped pots.

Setup:
I had played the day before with Villain, who was an OK player, but had a tendency to misread player's hands (which is why I was able to win a big pot from him with AJ vs his A10 when 2 aces hit the flop). He had backed down to my reraise twice (I re-raised so seldom I don't think anyone called my re-raises). I know he remembered all this because he mentioned bits and pieces of these during the few hours we played on Sunday. Villain is in the BB

When no one shows any aggression off the bat, the table became very limp friendly, so I thought nothing at all of limping on the button with 45s. 5 to the flop:

A 4 5 rainbow.

SB checks
Villain bets $10
folds to me, I pop it to $40.
Fold to Villain
after a slight consideration, he pops it to $100.

I'm confused, as while he could have 23 in the limped pot, I would guess he'd want to keep me around to the turn & would call then push the turn. I take a lot of time on this, talk to him a bit, and he says "big blind special."

I call.
editorial: this is by far and away the worst thing I could have done. At this point, I have bottom two pair in a limped pot and only $43 invested. I really have only two options here: I fold and take the loss, or I push my two pair. Calling is awful because unless another 4 or 5 falls on the turn I'm going to be in the same predicament, only with more money invested. My only other option would be to not have re-raised his initial bet.

Turn: Qc
Villain announces all-in.

THIS, of course, is the problem with calling the large bet on the flop. I didn't have a plan when I called that bet; if a 4 or 5 fell on the turn, then obviously I'm good, but what about a blank? Calling that flop raise gave him the license to represent any number of hands.

What happened was that I invested one small bet in hopes of flopping big; when I flopped big but got played back at I made an incorrect decision: calling his re-raise was wrong. I ended up folding, and thus losing almost $150 on a 45s.

I wish the story ended there....

After he announced all-in, I was trying to pick up something from him; I even flipped my cards over in order to try to get something from him; I was so caught up in the adrenaline that my typically rock-solid observation skills were shot. After I folded and the pot was pushed to him, he showed me his hand:

45o.

Now, I can understand that to an extent -- if he wanted to put me on tilt a bit, then that was a perfect way to do so. Thing is, immediately after collecting that pot, he racked up his chips and left the table. As he was racking the chips I even said to him, "Dude, that was like rubbing salt into the wound, I wish you hadn't shown me what you had." He responded, almost in anger, that he had told me he got a BB special and he couldn't put me on the hand that I had.

No kidding. I played tight enough that no one would be able to put me on that type of hand (though I did play them and took down pots with them but not needing to show the hands).

Lessons learned:
1. don't call with that type of hand in that position with that flop action, as the turn will rarely bring about a "good card," as there are so few left in the deck. Some may think I should have folded after the re-raise on the flop, but I'm still of the opinion that pushing here was the right move. I bet we would have chopped the pot, and moved on.
2. always have a plan with a hand: if you're playing 64s and flop an OESD know what you're going to do or how far you're willing to go with it on the flop; if you have ATC and flop two pair have a plan of what you're going to do when you flop a draw, flop just one pair, etc etc.

Always go into a hand with a plan. Sure, the plan can change on the fly with the cards in play and action in front of you, but you've got to have some sort of plan. And tell the consistent story.

Poorly played hand, and I still wish that dude hadn't shown me his hand -- he had no reason in the world to except to rub-in the fact that he outplayed me. And as I said, since he was leaving the table it wasn't even a tactical move on his part to tilt me: he's not going to benefit from me being on tilt after he leaves. He was, basically, being a dick. I guess you'll find that at the poker tables at times.

Vegas recap:

It rocked. Details to follow, including a "How NOT to play two pair," incorporated with "Go in with a plan," and also "talking to get information."

I used poker winnings to pay for top-of-the-line seats at two Vegas shows and still had enough profit to buy into a game the next day :)

Can't wait to go back.

Vegas Bound!

....details to follow...

TSA looking for tells?

Reading drudgereport.com today, I came across this article, which in a nutshell says that this company called The Ekman Group has been training TSA screeners to look for what researchers call 'micro-expressions.' They claim that they have caught some drug smugglers, and questioned some potential terrorists.

From what I read, it sounds like they teach these workers how to detect very very very minor and momentary changes in facial expressions and body language that even the best-of-con men would have trouble supressing. When someone is lying, so the research goes, you can often get a mili-second glimpse of that lie, a very slight change of expression (often to fear if lying). I'm sure the research is detailed, but the little bit I read sounds like something plausible.

Talented professional actors are masters at this without even realizing it. They are so able to get inside this character and this world that when a "micro-expression' comes out, it's "in character." I remember watching an episode of Lost, when Sayid said something that later on turned out to be a bold-faced lie, but I knew it -- knew it -- at the time. Wasn't a tone of voice, wasn't a necessary plot device, and I don't believe it was a guess. I believe there was a micro-expression of fear from his character.....

And of course, I believe it's obvious how this could fit into poker. Why do so many top pros feel they rely heavily on tells? Why is it that almost none can really clearly describe what these "tells" are? How is it that Doyle can look at a guy and know (often enough at least) whether the guy's bluffing or not? I believe it's probably these micro-expressions, things that happen so suddenly and so fleetingly that they don't consciously know why the all the sudden realized the guy is bluffing (or that he really has the goods).

Now, of course, this is far from fool-proof. Which I'd bet will lead the TSA into more than one lawsuit once someone is singled-out for special attention who feels indignant and has connections at the ACLU. BUT -- 1) while I hate the thought of further invasions by our government, I also believe that this type of survailance is justified and crucial; and 2) I wanna learn more about it!

I already went to the Ekman group's website and signed up for information on their seminars. I even found an interactive test that is supposedly along the lines of at least part of how they train people to notice micro expressions.

I'm also going to try to be hyper-aware in Vegas this weekend to see if I can't pick up any of these micro-expressions. Admittedly it will be easier to pick up during pots that I'm not involved in (I get such an adrenaline rush when I'm in a big pot that nuance is sometimes missed, a definite leak in my live-game), but I have some ideas that I think will help me stay calm under pressure at the tables so hopefully keen observation of my opponents in hands that I'm in and that I'm not will help me make good decisions.

This, of course, is the missing link when playing online. I'm a better player live than online (limit and NL), and I wonder if that's why. I'll be keenly observing myself this coming weekend, and hopefully taking detailed notes on my own feelings, actions, situations, reactions, etc, and go over them when I'm back home.

Donks ITM

So very early in Sit n go's if I get AA or KK I raise BIG, to either win the small pot preflop, or narrow it down to exactly one person who's willing to gamble (got this from Scott Fischman's book). SO, first hand of a 6-seat sit n go:

Dealt to gsw61515 [Ac Ah]
COSMIXLIDES folds
Tree Smacker folds
gsw61515 raises to 300
Be-like-Billy folds
og monster76 folds
penny1550 has 15 seconds left to act
penny1550 calls 270

This is an interesting development, as I should soon be winning a bigger pot, or even doubling through.

*** FLOP *** [Js Tc 3d]
penny1550 bets 30 <--- What's with the bet of 30?
gsw61515 raises to 1,200, and is all in <--- overbet in hopes of doubling
penny1550 calls 1,170, and is all in <--- woops - pocket jacks? oh well...

gsw61515 shows [Ac Ah]
penny1550 shows [8d Jd] <-- that's right, top pair WEAKASS kicker, gutshot str draw

*** TURN *** [Js Tc 3d] [2h] <---- safety
*** RIVER *** [Js Tc 3d 2h] [Jh] <-- heartbreak

Done and done, thanks to the awesome preflop and flop calls of penny1550. In hindsight I could have raised instead of just shoved, but I would them shove the blank on the turn, and I believe this dude would still probably have called. Maybe not. Next time I'll play this type of situation differently, and wait for the turn to shove.

-----------------------------

NEXT UP....built up a big lead, and I've been folding for the last 2 levels (except for one flop that I mucked after a min bet). Finally, get something decent, especially 3-way: AJ. I raise 3x's the BB, other guy shoves. What do I do? Of course I call - he's been playing every other hand, there's nothing that says this hand is anything special... I'll spare you the description, see for yourself:



Sure, someone who hasn't played a single hand in 10 minutes comes to life, and you shove queen fucking eight?! Brilliant move, Norsker, brilliant. For the hell of it, I asked what made him decide to shove back at me? He said he knew his cards were live, and that was all he could ask for. Hey, man, whatever you need to believe to justify your play - go for it.

So just a tad later, preflop action, the shortstacked button shoves, Norsker smooth-calls. I've got AQs, I reshove hoping to isolate, and calls Norsker calls with...... ahh, I don't even wanna say.... see for yourself...




Norsker & penny1550: god BLESS you and I hope to see you at my table again SOON!

Limit Session Stat Analysis

Name 2 things that are wrong with this picture.

Got it?

Here's what I think:
1. I'm seeing too many turns
2. I'm going to way too many showdowns.

I felt like I played great during this session, but I still logged a tiny loss (single digits somewhere). I couldn't piece it together 'till I went through and checked out my stats. 62 showdowns, 32 showdown wins.

A few weeks ago I was certain I was giving my opponents way too much credit for having hands. Seems I've over compensated. And in Limit, I know that sometimes a pair is enough heads-up. But I apparently took this too far. Thankfully, it's easy to find the people at the tables that are more prone to bluffing b/c there are so many people that will call you down with anything. But, as Phil Gordon says, if I am never bluffed out of a pot I know I'm calling too much.

SO -- here are some stats from a very short, 150-hand session tonight:





MUCH better. Win many hands? A little less than 10% of hands I saw (yes, I was playing extraordinarily tight). But seeing that I only saw 9 rivers, and only 6 showdowns, meant that I was not going to showdowns past where I knew I was beat. And most times I was able to see the hands I was right. Oh, sure, some hands I dropped after the turn and would've hit a set on the river, but I'm not playin' that kinda game at limit anymore -- the implied odds are SO not there.

Now, I thought I was seeing too many turns in that long session, but I saw the same percentage of turns in this short session. Maybe that's about where I should expect it to be; I'll keep checking. Stats are a wonderful thing... methinks it's about time to invest in PokerTracker, as soon as I get a bigger hard drive (the database that thing creates will get into the gigabytes soon enough, especially if I keep playing as much as I am now!).

Next up: more aggression, and more flops. I readily admit that I limped into a number of these pots, sometimes even as the first one to commit chips to the pot. Next session I'm going to have the same starting hand requirements, and never or almost never limp into a pot: if I'm playin', I'm raising. Well, I may call a raise with a PP under jacks, but (almost) never limp with them. Why "almost"? Well, 1) there are no 'nevers' in poker, and 2) if I'm on the button and 5 people have limped, there's a damn good chance I'm limping with any two here: .50 to win (probably) 3.50? I'm pretty certain I'll play just about anything here for a limp, and I'd also be cautious to put in a raise with anything besides AK, AA, KK, or QQ (depending on the table's playing).

On a different note, I go to Vegas Friday. yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!

Multi-table maddness

I just started multi-tabling sit n go's. First I tried 2 9-seat turbo's. One problem there was that I only decided to try the second one after like 10 minutes of the first; I think that actually hurt my performance, since blinds and all were staggered a bunch; and the time it took to get the windows set up right, to register, etc... I took 3rd in one, and the other one, where I was 2nd in chips, when tragedy struck:

I had gotten into the habbit over making huge preflop overbets with KK or AA - enough so that if a shorty called me they knew it was for their tourny life. I'm fine with that, in the turbo's they gotta start taking a chance, and I want them to feel like they can double-through right quick. Well, this time the other big stack shoves. Hoping he was just getting sick of my overbets (was really man-handling the table on the flop too), and/or picked up AK, I instacalled, and saw this:




Yea. Bummer. Doubt I could have gotten away from it; if I had made a more standard raise, and the guy came over the top, I would have had to call/shove. At the levels I'm playing I can't assume that the 4th raise means aces -- it could mean QQ, JJ, 1010, 99, A5s, AQ, AJ, A9s... given this guy didn't let on to me that I should peg him for anything other than the typical lower-limits player, and plus the fact that I had been such a bully that I thought he was trying to take control of the table from me. Oh, well.

Next, I decided to register for 3 6-seat turbo's at once. That was FUN! One of them, I literally did not win one hand- not one! And still went out 3rd! The other two I (ahem!) won! One was great - I got a decent lead fairly early, and pressured the table whenever I could. With the 6-person format only paying 2, it encouraged me to play faster, more aggressively... I played to either win or bust trying. I'll tell ya, players hate to be constantly beat-up on. I found a good balance between pressuring with big bets, and not over committing chips to the pot or willy-nilly doubling up shorties. The other one I won, though.... sweeeeeeet!!!!

The sweetest part of it is the chip count when we started heads up:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (1,150)
Seat 3: award623 (7,850)

That's right - I was outchipped almost 8-1. Remember: never count yourself out. What I had to do here was pressure whenever I could. After winning a small checked-down pot with a high card, next hand gave me A9 on the button, so I shoved. I almost expected him to call with ATC, but he actually had a hand:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (1,150)
Seat 3: Villain1 (7,850)
Villain1 posts the small blind of 150
gsw61515 posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gsw61515 [9s Ad]
Villain1 calls 150
gsw61515 raises to 1,150, and is all in
Villain1 calls 850
gsw61515 shows [9s Ad]
Villain1 shows [6s 6c] <--- a pair, but thankfully I have overs
*** FLOP *** [Ah 4d 8d] <--- kaBOOM!
*** TURN *** [Ah 4d 8d] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 4d 8d 3s] [Jc]
gsw61515 shows a pair of Aces
Villain1 shows a pair of Sixes
gsw61515 wins the pot (2,300) with a pair of Aces

So, one coinflip won, doubled up. Need to keep applying pressure. He knows one more double-up and we're basically even. Next hand QJo, min-raised to 600. When the flop brought a Q I shoved, he folded. Gave me a walk the next hand (side-effect of constant pressure: they're less willing to play marginal/atc-type hands). Next hand I have Qxo, raise to 900, calls. Flop is K high, Villain1 checks, I shove - FOLD. Constant pressure. I was playing to win, and win only. I pressured enough pots that I got to this point w/o a showdown since the A9o hand:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (4,450)
Seat 3: Villain1 (4,550)

Yep, by applying constant pressure, I got to even. I also, of course, got lucky that he didn't have a hand during this time (or not a hand big enough he was willing to gambool with it). But most of the flops I was shoving were ragged enough that it was doubtful he would have hit them. Once I got a few chips, too, I didn't shove anymore -- raises, and flop bets, but no shoves -- I never bet enough to be committed to a pot unless I wanted to be called. The one time he played back, I folded - he so rarely did I figured he had the goods that time. I dunno if he did.

At this point, the following hand happens:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (4,450)
Seat 3: Villain1 (4,550)
gsw61515 posts the small blind of 200
Villain1 posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gsw61515 [Kc Ks] <--- yippee!!
gsw61515 raises to 1,200
Villain1 calls 800 <--- double-yippee!!
*** FLOP *** [2h 3d Qs]
Villain1 bets 2,400 <--- yes! he hit a Q & pot-committed himself!
gsw61515 raises to 3,250, and is all in
Villain1 calls 850
gsw61515 shows [Kc Ks]
Villain1 shows [9s 7h] <--- wait - where's the queen?!
*** TURN *** [2h 3d Qs] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [2h 3d Qs 2c] [5d]
gsw61515 shows two pair, Kings and Twos
Villain1 shows a pair of Twos
gsw61515 wins the pot (8,900) with two pair, Kings and Twos

This turned out to be quite an unlucky hand for my opponent. I was at first surprised to see no pair/no draw, but honestly he made a great play - if I didn't have a real hand, the stop n go here would have worked great. Unlucky for him. But this is the part where if I had raised with rags, and had no pair/no draw, I don't call him. He only had made a play at one or two other pots HU, which I conceded to him.

One of the great things about being involved in two HU matches at once was that the pressuring became instinct. I didn't think much at all; I didn't agonize over decisions -- while I concentrated on some more intricate play in the more evenly matched HU game, the short-stacked one became about pressure only: I pressed when it seemed like I should, and then used most concentration to out-maneuver the guy in the other match.

Multi-tabling seems to lead me to make more automatic decisions, letting instinct and already learned-skills take over... playing 4 limit cash games I was more successful than playing one higher limit cash game.. why? Less fancy thinking, less time to concentrate on "what ifs" and my brain gets to a bit of an auto-pilot mode, and less playing marginal starting hands (still a big weakness in my limit playing).

Holy Cold Deck, Batman!

After the past week, slowly adding over $100 to my online roll at the lowest of low limits (.25/.50), I just logged a -$48.90, 450-hand session. I ended up losing more than 1/2 of that on one .50/1 limit table. There was a guy playing every hand...literally every hand... and showed down so many hands that held up it was sick (including a 6-2 suited that he played capped preflop, capped flop, and caught runner-runner clubs to crack my aces!).

Out of all the straight draws I had over that many hands, I hit one. ONE. I mean - I did flop a couple, too, which got no action on my bets. About 5 times I had OESD + a flush draw, and didn't hit any of it!

I get emotional easily. It's not even the bad beats, it's the assholes who tell me not to call his raises with "crap," calling my 89soooted crap vs his ace-rag soooted (again, pair PLUS OESD on the flop, and he rivered - rivered - the flush, calling all of my raises 'till the river with nothing but a diamond draw). He started to lecture me as to how crappy a hand that is; and then...

You know what? It doesn't freakin' matter. He plays any suited ace, and any suited king, and likes playing them. I like to play suited connectors and suited gappers, and even raise with them. That's the way I play, and that's cool. I think I'll have better results in the long run by playing those hands strongly, in position, and tossing my soooted ace-rags (maybe the occasional one to mix-it-up, etc)...

I let myself get bothered by this dude enough that I started looking for tables without him (found a couple) sitting, and played there (after, of course, muting the dick). I just gotta let that shit roll. Or turn off chat.

I think next round I turn off chat.

And I'll play only two tables. Or maybe one .50/1, and play tight. Whatever. I need to eat some ice cream now though. And chill out a little more.

high risk / big $$ vs low risk / steady $$

Just the other day I decided to play some (*gasp*) limit at Tilt. I played the lowest limit (.25 / .50), and expected to see the loose type play I'm used to at $3/$6 at the local casinos, where ATC seems to be the mantra. Well, how wrong I was! 90% of the players were weak-tight, or loose maniacs playing every hand trying to muscle out the opponents with nothing. It almost seemed like these players didn't really even understand the game much!

My first experience was Sunday night - I played for about 20 minutes before going to bed, and doubled my $8 buy in. I had insomnia, so from about 3:30am - 4:30 am I sat at a full speed table, and pushed my $10 buy in to $35; total profit: $33.

Last night, I experimented with two tables, for about 1.5 hours. Table one: From $10 to $21; table two: from $10 to $19; total profit: $20

Tonight, I just got done with an approximately 60 minute session, where I had 3 tables for 50 minutes, 2 tables for 5, and just 1 for about 5. Table one: from $8 to $21. Table 2: from $8 to $13. Table 3: from $8 to $19; total profit: $29.

SO: approx 3.5-4 hours, profit: $82 (approx. $20/hr)

This showed me a few things:
1. The players at these limits SUCK
2. I'm actually a good limit player (and yes, there is more to limit than just catching cards!)
3. Watching what the players would be raising / betting with on the flop made me realize that the players at the NL tables are betting / raising with similar stuff (often weaker holdings than I fear they have)
4. I enjoy limit
5. I am quite comfortable playing limit

Yes, you can make a much bigger profit playing $1/$2 NL than $4 / $8 limit; and I'm FAR from turning my back on NL, but playing limit can bring a steady profit, with less risk (and, thus, smaller reward). While I'm SO looking forward to NL in Vegas, I will most likely be hitting a limit table here and there for some lower-stress fun.

Couple things I need to take from my limit play to the NL table: being comfortable to raise with more marginal hands (like my new favorite category of hands, the suited-gapper), especially in position. I am comfortable playing more aggressively at limit than I am at NL. NL I'd categorize my cash-game as moderately-weak tight (and my tourny play just a little bit less weak); limit I'd categorize it as semi-tight-aggressive. I need to bring that same categorization over to the NL side.

Tomorrow, I move up to $0.50 / $1 and see how the competition is; if it's anywhere near as poor as the low limit, I'll be STOKED!

observation

I spent a good portion of my Saturday afternoon doing what some would probably consider to be very, very boring: I observed a successful online tournament player. I watched him just miss cashing in a couple tourny's, and watched him cash in a couple.

What did I learn:
a. he's got almost impeccable timing: his steal & resteal attempts worked very, very often
b. his bet sizes were often not full pot-sized bets, but seemed to be right-on, getting called when he wanted calls & folds when he (probably) wanted folds.
c. trapping is a very, very big part of online tournament play, his and many others who were building big stacks.

Re-stealing has not been part of my game for a while; and my steal attempts have been WAY too few. Watching this dude today I knew that he was either catching a mad amount of cards (unlikely), or he was effectively exploiting superior position against timid opponents.

I tried some of these in the $28K tonight on tilt, and did OK. Man, it sure feels terrifying when you're shoving on the turn with just a draw, but that's OK. It's necessary, I think: that's how you're gonna build a chip stack that stands to win. One hand that stands out was when I played one of my new favorite types of hands: suited gapper (8 6 spades this time). The flop came 7 9 K, two spades, I checked, the guy bet, I shoved, he called with K-junk (no spade); turn brought my straight. Another hand, I was on the button and called a raise with something moderately OK (J10 or something not great, but connected) with the intention of stealing with a flop bet if rags came out. Flop was 7 7 x (2 clubs); dude bets 1/3 pot... I pussy-out a bit and min-raise, INSTAfold.

I was at around 3200 after about 40 minutes, when I got blinded out a little, and then suffered a beat somewhere (don't remember honestly) that brought me down to 1400; I picked up some small pots, lost some, was around 1600 when I pick up JJ UTG. I unfortunately shoved that into a well-disguised KK and busted. All-in-all, though, I was very happy with the way I played, and became more confident in facets of my game that have been lacking.

Also just read an article about one of the final 6 at today's $500K at tilt (editorial update: she actually won the thing last night!), where she says,

“I realized that in order to move up and be able to beat the big guys playing the higher buy-in tourneys, I had to change my game. So I started experimenting with raising marginal hands that I usually wouldn't play and decided to improve my post flop play even if that meant looking like a donk for a while.

After making many funny moves and a lot of mistakes, I finally got the hang of it and I think that's when I really started winning a lot.”

I think (hope?) that's the point I'm at right now: moving away from ABC poker, testing the waters with playing more marginal hands, probably looking like an idiot at times when caught shoving with air (or close to), but all-in-all: improving, adding more weapons to my arsenal.

emotions

I'm playing a tiny heads-up game, with an uber-aggressive opponent, who's been shoving a bunch preflop, and a lot of stop and go's after calling my button raises. A LOT. Enough so that he's either completely card racking, or stealing left and right. I'm down to about 900, and honestly tired of his shoves - know I need to take a stand at some point, so finally he shoves from the button, I have A9s, and I call. I know, not a powerhouse, but honestly if I kept on waiting for a huge hand, I was gonna be low enough in chips that doubling through would only put me with 1k or so. So I called. What does he have? 44. I'm not in too bad a shape:

*** FLOP *** [6d 8d 7c]

top pair, woo-hoo!

*** TURN *** [6d 8d 7c] [7s]

He's dead to 6 outs....

*** RIVER *** [6d 8d 7c 7s] [5d]

...and hits it....

Now, this wasn't that bad... I took a chance, the flop bailed me out, the river bailed him out. No biggie. I needed to take a stand when doubling-up would put me back in the race, not put me just above life-support.

But this is the part I didn't get... afterwards, he types "fu." ?!?! What's that about? I had already typed "gg" so I write, "what's that for?" to which he replies, "that was a weak call."

Fine, I made what seemed to him a weak call; I'm getting short stacked; I know I have to take a stand at some point, so I did. And then he tells me fuck you?! For whatever reason, this pissed me off enough that I had to take a breather. I was going to jump into another HU match, but I was steaming over that. I don't know why; I don't care who this dude is, but I just don't like someone telling me 'fuck you' after a decent heads-up battle. Call me old-fashioned, but most of my games end with me telling those still left "gg / gl," not "fu." It got me riled up, though, which means that I need to take a look at why that bothered me so much.

Little fucker....

... at least the breather gave me time to eat some ice cream and sign up for the Ferguson $1 donkament.

WANTED: tournament success

There's this one dude who seems to do quite well in large field tournaments (multiple top 10's & wins & top 3's in ftp's $28K among other things - check out his site, he's got pictures of the wins). I don't know the guy, but I'm so curious about his success. He obviously figured something out, and I want to also. I'm thinking maybe I'm too cautious, or too... I dunno... sometimes I just don't pull the trigger even when I 'm 95% sure someone's just makin' a move. I guess what I need to start doing is -- try it out. When it folds to the cut-off who raises in what's probably a steal attempt, I should try a squeeze from the blind (with something resembling a hand at least). I'm sure the more I try it, the more I'll start to see -- something. I don't know what, but I'm sure when I start putting myself in that position more often, even when I'm wrong and get felted, I'll get better at identifying what are good spots to try a squeeze/re-steal/etc...

After about a month and a half of playing hours everyday, I took the last couple days off. Was good, I think. I played a silly little turbo sit n go a little while ago, took 2nd (honestly, I blinded out 'till I was down to 1100 & 3 left; I made one raise that was shoved against, and then I doubled through a guy who probably pegged me (and rightly so by my actions) as very weak/tight when he shoved on the turn when I had rockets, and then some other dude busted out. I started heads-up with about 1200 chips; I steadily built that up to a high of 3100 at one point, and then I had terrible timing on one hand when the board paired and I shoved with 2nd pair, only to be shown a set of Kings. Oh, well.

Random fact: a teaspoon of water contains 120 drops (thanks Snapple!).