Zen and Poker

Writing again

2007-12-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

After taking a long hiatus from posting, I am finally writing again. I have been invited to write a blog over at Pokersift, a new blogging website designed bt Adam Schwartz of the Rounders podcast, soon to be renamed and sponsored by 2+2 publishing. I'm not sure if anyone stops by here anymore but if they do, you can find me over there under Murf72.

Though perhaps I'll still keep some stuff posted over here as well. Not sure yet.

First cash of June

2007-06-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

"There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, popular, or political, but because it is right." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Well…even though it wasn’t much, I am happy to finally get a cash in an event this month. Played the $150 Pot-limit Omaha event at Binion’s yesterday and finished 28th out of 243.

I felt I played pretty well, and again put myself in a spot where with a couple of breaks I could have made a run at the $9,100 first place prize, but I ran pretty card dead the last hour. PLO is a game where position is so important, more so than NLHE, and the last hour I didn’t have strong enough hands to open from early position and almost every pot was opened before it got to me in late position, and there weren’t enough chips to flat call more than one time by that point. It was unfortunate because the three players to my left were very tight players, but it was always raised before it got to me. Only twice was it not, the first time I had K922 and passed and the BB got a walk. The second time I decided it was too good an opportunity to not steal, so I raised a pathetic looking KT72ss and the BB woke up with AKKJss and pushed all-in. I called getting 2.5-1 odds and hoping he had AAxx but lost the pot.

By the time it got to the money (they paid exactly 28) I had about 17,000 chips and average stack was around 35,000 with 1000/2000 blinds. I played an 899T and bet a flop of J73 with 2 clubs but was called by a smaller stack who showed KJ7x with the club draw and the board came 3-2. I was down to 6000 chips and went out in my BB when I called my last chips after the button raised and I was double suited with J983 all black, but the flop was T53 all red.

Disappointing to be knocked out of course, but at least a cash can serve as a confidence builder when struggling. Props to my friend Christi who cheered me on during the event.

Still up in the air about my tournament schedule the rest of the month. I’ve been playing more cash games this week and have found it a bit more relaxing. As to the bigger tournaments, of which my plan was to play 3 WSOP events, I’m thinking the PLO8 on June 25th almost for certain, but I’m actually thinking that the other event I might play is, instead of another WSOP event, there is a $1000 PLO event at Binion’s July 2nd. The main reason is the starting chips at that Binion’s event is 10,000 chips, as opposed to the WSOP events which are 3000 chips for the $1500 events or 4000 chips for the $2000 events.

Stud h/l

2007-06-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

"That was the song that put me in the middle of the road. Travelling there soon became a bore, so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there" Neil Young when asked about Heart of Gold

On Sunday I played in the Stud h/l event at Binion’s and for the 4th time in 5 tourneys there I got about 2/3 through the field and then busted. I was doing well and ran my 5000 starting stack to about 12,000 with a 7 low and aces up hand and a rolled Kings (with a King out) where I filled up against a flush and three sevens. Then I took a sick beat when my Aces up and 6 low lost the whole pot to a wheel. Then, after looking for a hand to play, I opened with (A3) 3 on a table that had become very tight at the 600/1200 level but got a caller and a reraise from a 4 showing. I caught an ace and fired, again was called by the K-T suited and raised by the 4-6. A strange raise from probably the best player on the table, even if he had a 3-5 underneath he’d be concerned. I though maybe rolled fours. I reraised to see his reaction and maybe force out the flush draw. But the K-T called and the 4 reraised again. When he caught a Ten on fifth street and me a seven, there was no dought he had 4-4 underneath. But I called fifth street with four outs plus I could catch 2 runners for a low. But he paired the 6 on sixth street and I caught high and folded knowing 2 just outs remained.

With the antes 100 I had only 1400 left, and needed to play soon. I wound up thinking putting my chips in the pot with a 24J and made nothing. But I did get home almost in time to see the entire Sopranos finale.

I’m going back to cash games this week, though I will probably play the PLO at Binion’s on Wednesday.

H.O.R.S.E.

2007-06-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

“We cant fix every problem, but those that we can, we must” Bono

Last Friday I played in the HORSE event at Binion’s. This is an event where I think I’d have a big advantage, as I have a bit of experience at playing all the games and feel I play them all pretty well. But I was disappointed to be knocked out about halfway through.

Some big hands: With limits at 300/600 in Hold’em I had AA and it was raised twice before me and I capped, a three-way flop came AKQ rainbow. They checked to me, I bet, one caller. Turn a 4 again I bet, river a Ten. Guy opens all-in for 540, I call expecting to see AJ but he has AQ and I had a nice stack.

In Stud I had an ace showing with an AJ of diamonds in the hole. A jack raised and I reraised, a Ten called behind and the J called. I bet fourth street and fifth, picking up two more diamonds. Both players continue to call, showing J79 and T84. I need a diamond for a flush or a matching card for aces up. The T84 pairs his 8 on 6th but checks. I don’t improve and take the free card. I blank out the river and lose to tens and eights. Frustrating.

I had about 12,000 chips (starting stack was 6000) and had been moved to a much tougher table. Three players there I knew as being tournament specialists around Vegas. And I played a bad hand in Omaha h/l against two of them where I got stuck in the middle with the second nut high straight and second nut low and paid them off on the river in a big pot. I also had the only flush draw going to the river. This pot cost me half my stack.

Then a very frustrating hand in Razz where I raised with a 3 showing and a 48 in the hole and got called by a loose player showing a 6. I caught a 4 and he caught a Q. I bet my 34 board and expected him to fold 6Q but he called. Then I caught a Q and him a J. Again I figured him to fold to my bet but he stayed. At best he now had a Q low and a draw to a Jack. I paired the 3 on 6th and he caught a Ten. The river paired me again and I bet out hoping for a fold but he called flipping over an A79 for a T976A. It was a badly played hand by him I must say, but that is the game we play. I was down to 2K in chips after that at 600/1200 and re-raised a raiser a few hands later in Razz with a A34 against his 357, but wound up catching 4-8-Q-4 and he made a 7-6 low.

WSOP event #9

2007-06-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

“You learn a lot about people when they lose” Donald Trump

Yesterday I played the $1500 Limit Omaha h/l event. It was a confusing day, as we started in the overflow room which is actually a pavilion located just outside of the Amazon room (the main tournament room). It accommodates 600+ players, but because of the extreme winds that ripped through Vegas yesterday, play was not a very pleasant experience. A couple of doors actually ripped off their hinges and I was told that a couple of the roofing cables broke. There were two main lighting fixtures 30 feet high in the room (the tables were lit by individual smaller lights just above the tables) and one was just above my head and everyone was pointing at it saying that it was bound to fall sooner or later, so it was actually a bit scary. At one point I saw Todd Brunson talking to one of the dealers and pointing to the lighting fixture as the wind howled. After a few hours the winds got so bad that one guy at my table refused to play anymore and shortly after, play was stopped until they could find us all tables inside the Amazon Room. It really was kinda lame.

As to the play, it wasn’t the best of tournaments for me. The starting stack was 3000 and I never had more than that. I had a playable stack the first 3 hours, then spent the next 2 1/2 hours short stacked until I went bust. I lasted till just after midnight and busted out in somewhere around 320-330th place out of 690, it was difficult to know exactly how many were left because of the tables spread throughout and the clock problems. Honestly, I wasn’t really very happy with my play as I had trouble balancing the different levels/styles of my opponents. I paid off bets in a few spots where I could have saved chips. In particular I got a lot of trouble from Mel Judah and the player to his left (didn’t know his name but he looked familiar), both of whom I would say outplayed me. They were both aggressive and mixed up their game well. Judah played mostly solid cards, but I saw him call down the turn and river with AAxx on a JT98 board and was correct that his opponent had nothing.

It was a very tough table, as all the players commented, including one who got moved to our table who said his previous table was much easier. I could also say that I outlasted players who I saw bust before me like Phil Helmuth, Scotty Nguyen, and Chad Brown, but none of that is worth the price of admission. The other tough players at my table seemed to be Omaha specialists. There were only two players who were somewhat weak at the table, and one of them was getting hit over the head with the deck.

One way I spewed some chips was getting involved in a couple hands out of position, and calling down for half a pot with mediocre two-way holdings. I think I was a little too concerned with being perceived as weak-tight and later run over, and calling down in those spots spewed a few chips that I could have used later.

I can only remember two interesting hands, both from later on in the tournament when I was short stacked. I had an A34x on a 256 flop and wound up taking ¾ of the pot vs. another A3. Later I had A4KQ double suited in the small blind and Mel Judah had raised. The BB called also and we saw a three-way flop of K85. We both checked to Judah and he bet. I check-raised hoping to knock out the BB with a possible A3 or pair and it worked. Judah called and the turn was a 3. I bet 300 on the turn and check-called the T on the river so that I couldn’t be raised all-in in case I lost both ways, Judah showed A23x and we split the pot. I needed a 2 on the river for a scoop and he needed a 3. A break like that would have gotten me finally above the 3000 mark but that break never came.

I’m not sure of my schedule the rest of the week, I seem to be lacking a bit of confidence right now. I tried to play some cash games online for an hour or two and get it back, but lost there as well. It’s been a tough week.

Also, I’m reconsidering my WSOP schedule. I definitely think the PLO8 event June 25th should be a significant +EV for me, but I’m contemplating switching the $2000 Ohaha h/l event for either the $2500 HORSE or a Hold’em event. I’m thinking that I’ll run into less “specialists” in the HORSE and I play all the games well and can switch on and off well, but maybe I’m overthinking and I just had a tough table. If will only think about the HORSE event if I get some confidence in the next few days, cause it's on Saturday.

More Binion's pus WSOP

2007-06-05T05:07:00.000-07:00

"Real courage is being afraid to do something, yet doing it anyway"

The great thing about Binion’s tournaments is that they are a great warmup for the WSOP. They schedule an event that is always the same game as the following day’s WSOP event, only Binion’s does it at 10% of the buy-in. So for example, yesterday was the $150 Omaha h/l at Binion’s and today is the $1500 Omaha h/l at The Rio.

This week I seem to be consistently putting myself in spots where I have a chance to make a run at a tournament win, but keep getting the door shut on me at around the same point in the tournament. Yesterday was a great turnout with 283 players at Binion’s and I got knocked out around 85th.

The hand that did me in was at the 1000/2000 level. With A248 and a flop of AJ8 rainbow, I bet out with two pair and the second nut low draw but was called in two spots. The turn was a gloomy looking Ten which completed a broadway, put a flush draw on the board, and gave any ace a likely better aces up. I was hoping for a free card here but the BB bet 2000 into me and I called given I had the low draw and maybe four outs to scoop with an ace or 8. The player behind me then raised to 4000 and we both called, leaving me with one pink 500 chip. The river was a 4, bricking my low draw and leaving me with two pair and no low. The turn raiser bet and the BB called and I folded preserving the one chip. The raiser of course had a broadway str8. I quadrupled up soon after but busted on my next attempt.

Had a nice time at the WSOP the last couple days. I watched quite a bit of the Stud/Omaha mix event and on Sunday even got to see Doyle Brunson’s hole cards for a couple rounds, and later watched a table with Greg Raymer, Jen Harmon, Andy Black, Paul Darden, and 1985 WSOP Main Event champion Berry Johnston. On Monday I ran into a guy named Mike who I had previously met and he wanted to stroll the room and look for people he saw on TV. We watched a bit of the crazy $5000 Pot Limit Omaha rebuy event, and later watched one of the final two tables of the Omaha/Stud mixed event with Annie Duke, Chris Ferguson, and Josh Arieh. Arieh was second in chips and trying to bully the table, but he ran into a couple of hands and within the blink of an eye all his chips were gone and the final table was set for Wednesday 2pm.

Unfortunately I won’t get to watch much of it. But there’s a good reason, cause I will be playing in the $1500 Omaha h/l event at The Rio which starts at 5pm! Wish me luck!

Pot limit Hold'em

2007-06-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

“God gave us alcohol as a social lubricant to make men brave and women loose” Dave’s pal in Just Like Heaven

Had a great time again yesterday at the Binion’s Classic. There were 186 players for the Pot-limit event, which is a real good turnout for a non-no-limit event. Hopefully, having fun and playing relaxed will eventually result in a nice cash.

Again, had a nice table and joked around and talked with everyone. We talked about the rumored problems at the WSOP with the new cards and the 4-hour lines, the great “oldies” car show running on Freemont Street, and a host of other topics. Met a nice woman from California who was 43 and a grandmother of three. Also Mike from Oklahoma City who is playing the same WSOP Omaha h/l event I am. There was another guy (I can’t remember his name) who chatted quite a bit and was from Vegas, and when someone asked him how long he had lived in Vegas he confidently said, “Four days!”

As to the tournament, I think I played real well again, at least as well as I think I can play.
The first 3 levels were very quiet, mostly I participated in conversation and got comfortable with the players, since I knew I’d be with them for quite a while. Binion’s breaks down tables in a predictable manner, and I was at a table that would be 6th last to break. I didn’t have much action during the first three levels. I played a couple pots in position but didn’t connect. A couple times when someone was about to raise preflop, I told them to “take it easy” and a couple times got them to agree, lol. I made one decent pickup when 3 players limped in the third level for 75/150 blinds, I pot-raised an AT and pleaded that I had a family and that I needed to tell them that I won at least one pot. They let me have it, and I ended the break with 3850 chips from 4000 starting chips.

I had some action in the second session. At 150/300 I had a Q9 in the SB and limped after everyone folded since I had a good rapport with the BB. Flop came K93, I checked to see what he’d do and control the pot size to my advantage OOP and he said “Well, I should bet this but I wont.” The turn came a Q and I bet 400 and he called. The river was an 8 and I bet one pink chip (500) and he called again and showed a King as I took it down. At 200/400 I made a raise to 1400 with QJs and a solid player who I had played with the day before and remembered me, reraised all in for 1500 more. I thought AK was fairly likely given his reaction, I think he would have hesitated a bit more with AQ. So getting 2-1 I called, and indeed he flipped over AK. I flopped a Queen, he turned an Ace, and I rivered a Jack.

Later I was in late position after two limpers with 44 and made a pot sized raise, but the UTG limper reraised all-in. It was a tough decision as he struck me as the type player who might resign himself to sticking it all in rather than folding a KQ/KJ type hand. He even said “Might as well go all-in” which could mean that type hand, or could also be a false tell with AA/KK to get action. I was getting around 2.5-1 on the call which is an easy call if I knew he had just two overcards, but I decided to muck. One thing that influenced me here was that even if I was right that he was resigning himself here, he could easily be resigning himself with 66 or 55.

Soon after I picked up 77 in the SB, and after several limpers I decided to limp along rather than create a large pot OOP where it was likely I’d get called somewhere. Flop came QQ4. I maybe should have led at this pot but I was concerned about being called or raised by a four with two bets to come and not knowing where I was. I decided to check and it got checked around, which is bad because I let a free card come off when I likely had the lead. Fortunately a six popped off, and I bet out here for a little more than half pot and got a caller. I was pretty sure that was a hand like A6, and when a 7 fell on the river I was even happier. I had about 4000 left and bet half of it into a 4500 pot and he reluctantly called, and when he mucked he claimed that he wouldn’t have called 2100 lol. I asked if he had A6 and he said yes and I believed him. I ended the second break with 7800.

In the third session, I made a move against the grandmother. With blinds 300/600 I raised the pot to 2100 with 89o from the cutoff. She was about to muck her BB when she change her mind and announced “I’m gonna call.” She was a decent player, but had already told us that she wouldn’t risk her whole tournament on just a draw. Flop came QJ4 and she checked. It was in thew wheelhouse of what a BB would defend with so I checked behind with a gutshot and a possible turn bluff opportunity. An ace came on the turn and when she checked that was a great opportunity to bluff so I fired out a 2/3 pot bet and she folded after thinking a bit. She claimed T9. Soon after, I made a late position raise after two limpers with AT, and the UTG guy, same guy that reraised me earlier with the 44 hand, reraised all-in again. Getting around 2.5-1 and having him covered by a few thousand, I decided to take a stand here and was very happy when he turned over KJ. I had around 16K after that hand.

At 400/800 I potted an AQ in late position after two limpers, but the SB called. On a 873 flop, I decided to bet against this player. He was a studious player who had seen me check behind a couple times earlier in this spot like with the 89 hand, and I felt he would give me a bit of credit if I continued the bet here and likely lay down AK or a small pair. I bet about half the pot and he check-raised me all in and I pitched the hand. Soon after, I limped behind several players on the button with a J9s and called a minbet with middle pair, then layed down to further aggression. I was down to around 10K when I picked up 99 in early position. I raised the pot to 4200 and got called by a player in late position. This player was selective in his starting cards so I was cautious. When the flop came K86 I was in a bad spot. There was nearly 9K in the pot and I had about 6K left. It was generally a decent flop for 99, but this players range I thought was fairly tight. I was afraid of AK or a higher pair. I truly thought he might lay down JJ/TT even QQ here for a bet. To check/fold here or check and give a free card or give up an opportunity to fold out TT-QQ seemed a bad play, so I made the other bad play and pushed. We must choose our weaknesses in this game. Well…he insta-called and turn over AK and I was done. Several of the players shook my hand and thanked me for the conversations and I walked away in 42nd place.

Today, I think I’m not gonna play, I have a few things to do plus want to see The Sopranos. I think I might go over to The Rio though and check out the action.

Tournament month

2007-06-01T23:04:00.001-07:00

"I did what I had to do because it was the right thing to do...but even an ordinary secretary, or housewife, or teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room" Miep Gies

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted, but I am going to try to keep an ongoing blog this month.

There are so many great tourneys this month going on in Vegas between the World Series at The Rio, Binion’s Poker Classic, and The Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza events, plus the Bellagio Cup. So I’m dedicating the month of June to live tournaments. I’m going to try to play one almost every day. I plan to play a few World Series events, many of the Binion’s ones, and probably a few of the Venetian ones.

Today I went to Binion’s for the first event which was $150 buy in No-limit Hold’em. My compliments go out to Binion’s for putting together what seems like it will be a truly great series of tournaments. Registration went smooth, the tables were set up nice, chips were nice, and the tournament was run very smoothly with tables being broken down and players reseated very orderly. Overall, it seems like the staff at Binion’s has done a great job. The tournament had a nice turnout, 281 players. More on Binion’s another day, as I will be playing many more of these events.

As to the tournament, I didn’t pick up much to play the first 3 levels. You start with 4000 chips and blinds 25/50, 30 minute levels. I raised an AT in late position and was reraised from the SB and folded, later I raised an AK to 350 from UTG during 50/100 and was re-popped to 1000. I was certain this player would not do this with AQ but would commit more chips on an ace or king board with a hand like JJ or 88, he was that type player. There was no chance he was laying down a pair for a preflop reraise, so I flat called and the flop was 894 and I gave up when he bet strong. I was sure he had a hand like QQ. I ended the first 3 levels with 2100 chips when we went to break.

The second session was more successful. When I got low, 4 players limped into the pot on my big blind and with 750 in dead money out there, I pulled the squeeze play raising all in with my 68o. Everyone folded. Soon after I raised an AK and all folded and I showed, a few hands later I raised an A9s after a limper who I did not think would call and took it down, and in my BB I bet a safe K32 flop with A5 in my hand and took it down, and I was back up to around 4800.

With AT in my next big blind, an interesting hand came down. I decided to check the option after the UTG+1 limped and the SB completed, as I had too much to raise all-in and an awkward amount left if I raised smaller, plus the UTG+1 limper was a decent player so I was catious. Flop came T64 two clubs. The SB checked and though I wanted to check-raise cause I though the UTG+1 might bet air or a hand like JTs, I thought there was too good a chance that he might check behind and my hand needed to be protected. So I bet 1000 into a pot of about 1150. I was surprised to be called in both spots. The turn was an 8. I was trying to figure out if both players could be drawing here, but the only draw on the flop was the flush draw. Possibly one guy with a hand like JT/QT/KT and the other drawing? I had about 3200 left and decided my hand was likely good so I went with it. Both players thought a long time and folded. I ended level 6 with around 8500.

My table was a lot of fun, and I was chatting it up quite a bit, making jokes and inventing new games. Sometimes I am like this at the table, and sometimes I stay pretty quiet. I guess I like to mix it up a bit. Several players to my left were decent if not pretty good, and a few to my right were not so great. We talked about inventing a new game with two dealers and two hands in Hold’em where you keep one hand in reserve and can later switch a card for a fee. Needs work, but has potential. I suggested that the game needed a name, so one guy at the table asked my name and decided to call it “Murf’s fucked-up Hold’em.”

After the second break, with blinds 300/600 and 50 ante, I called blind from the big blind when a girl moved in for 1700. With 3000 in the pot and me closing the action on an all-in, it was a no brainer for 1100 more. I had J3o and she showed A9 and I turned a jack to win. After winning another blind battle, our table got moved. I raised a couple times and took down blinds. With about 12000 chips at 400/800, I contemplated a reraise from the BB with 55 against a mid position raiser, but decided to pass. Soon after came my downfall, I reraised with 99 from the SB against a button raise, and he called with AK and won the flip, dropping me to around 7000. On my next BB, the button went all in and I called with A7. He showed 89o and spiked an 8, crippling me to 1000 chips. The next hand I had the SB so I was in for 600, and had to call the other 400 with 23o against the UTG raiser. He showed AK and held and I was out in 75th place.

Overall, I’m very happy with my play today. Hopefully I can say that each day, and have faith that that will be enough to make a couple nice scores. Today’s event paid 28 spots and $10,000+ to first place.

Tomorrow is the $150 pot limit Hold’em event which should be fun. Quite a bit more forced post flop play in PL compared to NL, so I look forward to that. I think I should be stronger against the field in PL than NL.

Your ego is why you feel the need to explain things

2007-02-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

“Zen has made me stop trying to explain things” Ram

Ram’s statement was very interesting to me. To me, it means to show how unimportant it is that people agree with you.

So I was trying to think of why we explain things to people. I came up with three primary reasons:

1) Because they don’t understand something and want to understand it, so we give them the information. This is positive and is often how people learn things.

2) As an information exchange, because we have different (or sometimes similar) viewpoints as someone else and wish to come to a better understanding of each others viewpoint and possibly to a conclusion or a compromise. This is also positive and is often how disputes are solved as well as how further learning is accomplished.

3) Because we feel our opinion is right and we have a desire to make other people(s) agree with us or see us as superior. This is negative and is an extension of our ego as people, which is the major flaw of the human race that we need to fight.

I see #3 a lot in poker. People arguing at the table about what the right play was, who is a donk etc. But it makes no sense. Are they trying to teach as in #1 or exchange information for further understanding as in #2? That’s silly, unless of course it is a friend or an information exchange of ideas like on a poker forum.

It is clearly almost always #3, the player’s ego makes him want to be seen as a superior player, or his ego forces him to defend himself from being labeled a donk. There really is no need for either of these, except to satisfy our ego.

It seems that in poker, as well as life, #3 can only produce feelings of frustration, anger, and resentment when people don’t agree with you, fight your ideas, or shoot them down. #3 has no positive recoil as far as I can see. Often, #3 is what holds people back in life, keeps them from being happy, keeps disputes and conflicts alive like the centuries old conflict over holy land in the middle-east or the conflicts among families or friends.

Have you heard the saying “We agree to disagree”? Let it end there and move on. Life is too precious for #3.

Can I get a little sympathy, please?

2007-02-04T23:32:00.000-08:00

“When you get all tangled up, you just tango on” Lt. Colonel Frank Slade

So after receiving an abundance of bad beats in live n/l games in early January, including two one-outers and several two-outers in very large pots, I hibernated into cyber-poker for most of the rest of the month. Saturday night I went back to see if the live tables had missed me.

$1/2 n/l at the MGM, I come in to what seems like a pretty live game and wait 2 hands to post. My very first hand, I get AA. One player limps and a young kid makes it $15 from the button; perfect spot for a new guy at an aggressive table. I make it $45. Limper folds and button calls with a “don’t try to bully me, new guy” glare. Flop comes A95, I try for the weak lead and bet out $20, he bites and makes it $60 and I push all-in the rest of my $200. If he folds, I’ve set up exactly the image I can use to my advantage. Instead he insta-calls and I show him the AAA and he disgustingly shows a set of 5s. Turn pairs the 9, river is a 5. I rebuy.

Welcome back!

back-to-back MTT wins

2007-01-29T23:07:00.000-08:00

"Confidence is contagious" Vince Lombardi

Just a brief follow-up to yesterday, I played the same MTT as last night (Absolute 8:30 $10 rebuy) and would you know I actually won it again! I can't remember ever winning back-to-back MTT's. Tonight was 146 players and I took down $1326.

I can only remember 2 hands right now. At the final table, I was chip leader and had 99 and layed it down on a 763 rainbow board against the other biggest stack who raised preflop and bet enough to commit himself on the flop. I felt he had an overpair for sure and when he showed me TT I was really happy. Later, when we were 3 handed, I had a stack of around 560K, the short stack was down to 80K, and the other player with a 180K stack minraised to 40K from the button. I pushed A6 expecting him to fold many holdings here (he had minraised/folded several times) but he called with AT. Board came 345J2 and I was heads up with an 8-1 chip lead. I blew the chip lead and was down 3-1, but then came back to win.

I actually played 4 MTT's both last night and tonight. I final tabled the 2K guaranteed $24+2 Razz on Fulltilt tonight and the $20 HORSE last night on Absolute. In 8 MTT's over the last 2 nights I won 2, final-tabled 4, and ITM'd 6 of them. My confidence seems to be back up. Now I just need some Zen perspective to remind me to bring the ego back down :)

Another MTT win

2007-01-29T08:36:00.000-08:00

"My idea of a diet is eating thin-crust pizza" Melinda

Took down a $10 n/l rebuy last night on Absolute; about 120 players and first place was $1120. There were two key hands that catapulted me into the chip lead.

With blinds 300/600 and a 50 ante, I had AA utg with 20K chips (about average chip count) on a very aggressive table and decided to try for a limp/re-raise. One player limped behind me and the button raised to 3000. I made it 8400 to go and the button called, so I figured he had to have a hand. Flop was 227 and I wanted all his chips. If he had a pair he was felting here no matter what, but if not I think that’s a dream flop for a weak-lead type play and I made a ridiculous bet of 1200 into a 18K pot and he raised me all-in with JJ and I held up.

A little while later, with blinds 400/800 (75 ante), the table had tightened a little and I picked up 88 with 37K chips in late position. There were 2 limpers and I contemplated a raise here but elected to go for set value and just call. Flop came A98 and I was just hoping there was an ace out there. The first limper (36K chips) bet out 800 into the 4K pot and I made it 3200. He re-popped to 11K and I elected to flat call. Turn was a 5 and he quickly pushed 23K into the pot and showed an A8 when I called. We were the two biggest stacks at the table and it made me an overwhelming overall chip leader with around 40 players left.

I maintained a chip lead by stealing blinds through the bubble and final 2 tables. Three times I got an opponent all in when I was a 60/40 dog, but I lost all three and entered the final table 3rd in chips. I think I played well at the FT, picking my spots nicely and when we got 3 handed I was fortunate to get a nice suck-out when my all-in bet was called after the flop with A2 against AK on a 344 flop and I turned a 2. Shortly after I was heads up with a 3-1 chip lead and took it down when my K9 flopped 986 and got all-in against his KT.

Out of the Hole

2007-01-23T23:48:00.000-08:00

“If you focus too closely, too intensely, on a problem when it occurs, it appears uncontrollable. But if you compare that event with some greater event, and look at the problem from a distance, then it appears smaller and less overwhelming” The Dalai Lama

So I got well out of the hole and into the black for the month this week by playing games that I haven’t played in a while. I built up some confidence by playing some heads up no-limit tournaments with no blind increases on Stars and winning 19 of the 25 I played. These are great games that really reward skill over luck due to the blinds not increasing. After that, I followed up by winning 2 HORSE MTT’s, one was a $33 tourney worth around $1000 on Stars and the other was a $20 on Absolute worth around $400. I played 5 other HORSE tourneys this week and made 3 more final tables, finishing 4th, 6th, and finally 8th in the Stars $109 buy-in. They were smallish tourneys, the kind I like, ranging from about 60 to 110 players. In the Stars $109 I ran into 2 consecutive full houses to knock me out when I made a flush followed by aces-up in Stud.

I always think that alternating games when struggling can result in a turnaround. It gives you a fresh outklook on things. There are lots of choices: you can change stakes, live/internet, change internet sites or casino, full ring/shorthanded/heads-up, cash/sngs/mtts, limit/no-limit, holdem/Omaha/stud/other, or some combination of these. This is a solid reason for all those specialists out there to learn all games and styles.

Looking at this from a Zen standpoint, this can be somewhat similar to changing perspective. You can even compare it to a morning meditation, which allows a fresh-mind. Except this way, the fresh-mind is forced because you are playing in a game you haven’t played recently. It allows you to forget your primary game for a while and forces you to concentrate on right-playing in a fresh game, and in time you return to your primary game with again fresh thinking.

Palms

2007-01-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

“There is always hope, hope that we’ll stop killing each other, and that someday we’ll all live together in peace on this planet,” Klaus Meine from Scorpions during the introduction of Wind of Change

Poker 2007 is off to a rough start for me. I haven’t had a losing month for almost 3 years, but that trend is in jeopardy. I’ve had a very bad run and admit to having lost some confidence. Confidence is such an important part of this game. Personally, it turns me weak tight where I’m afraid anytime I’m raised. I’m letting go of solid hands anytime I’m raised on the flop, and calling with hands I know I’m likely beaten in when the pot is bloated. Anybody out there on the confidence rebuilding team?

I heard about The Palms is having a $1 million freeroll, details are still sketchy but it seems the qualifications are 300-500 hours (300 gets you in, 500 gets you the maximum starting chips) between now and June 31. I hear they have a television deal to go along with it and are reserving the right to invite up to 30 players who don’t qualify with enough hours. That’s a lot of hours to commit, but I might give it a go.

2007

2007-01-12T06:13:00.000-08:00

“Because I’ve pretty much given up on most adults” Barry Greenstein responding to a question on The Circuit about why he prefers to give to children's charities.

New color, new fonts for a new year. Soon maybe even some links to other pages/blogs...

Okay, quickly, other 2007 goals:

Poker goals:

To lessen tilt and distractions and play each hand independently from any other

To leave poker where it belongs, at the poker table, and not to carry any frustrations experienced at the table over to anything else in my life

Other goals:

To continue on a path towards greater happiness

To show more compassion for others

To help point just one person to a life of greater fulfillment

To speak up, if given the chance, for those who cannot speak up for themselves

To make some new friends and enjoy the old ones

To make my best efforts toward regaining good health, and to not get too caught up in allowing any possible failures in that area to affect my true happiness

To make passionate love to Shana Hiatt on a beach in Cancun while sipping margaritas under a full moon

Orleans Day 2

2006-12-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

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Quote of the day: "America has a leader, but he’s not in the House. He’s walking here among us, and we’ve got to seek him out” Neil Young from his Living with War album

I started a post on day 2 last week, which was last Wednesday, but didn't get a chance to finish it till today.

So I decided to go to the gym for a quick sweat before day 2 of the tournament. Just a little cardio always seems to help me feel better at the poker game. I’ve put on quite a bit of weight since being basically immobile since February. While there are still a lot of things I can’t do physically, like I can’t stand for long periods of time etc., the cross training cardio machines at the gym are great because I can put some of my weight on my arms and it is less painful to the nerves in my legs, much easier than walking or even just standing.

Anyway, poor planning left me changing in the locker room when I should have been on my way to the Orleans, but it was good to get in the workout first. It just makes me feel so much better when I’m at the table.

So I arrived a little late, but actually only missed 3 hands and no blinds. I had 14,800 chips and the blinds started at 300/600 with 100 ante for the final 20 minutes of that level. After that the levels were the full 30 minutes.

I never got involved with an interesting hand the entire day. As I figured, there were a lot of short stacks, and lots of bustouts quickly. After the first hour we were down to 65 players. The only hands I played were where I raised and picked up the blinds. I seemed to keep up with the average stack but I was never involved in an action hand. After about 2 hours we were down to 50 players and another payout level of $250. I was having fun at the table, joking around with guys and stuff. One guy looked like Lou Holtz, and he said he played 2/4 limit regularly. When we got down to 50 players and the $250 payout level he said that now he was moving up to 4/8 lol. He kept winning with Jacks, not pocket jacks, I mean he kept flopping a jack. When he doubled through I told him he could play 4/8 with a kill now. I had fun talking back and forth with some of the guys and it made for a fun table. I was very relaxed at the table and really enjoying it, which was a benefit as I think everyone else except Lou Holtz was tense about the prize money. I put the money out of my mind and minimized the distraction it could cause to my game. There was a guy at the table next to me that was trying to get everyone to chop it 35 ways when it gone down that far. He had a buddy at my table who tried to convince our table on the 35 way chop! And most people were going for it! They were obviously distracted by the money.

Twice I had 88 when a player went all-in in front of me from early/mid position, once in my big blind, and I mucked both times. I think most of the players at the table would have called with it. I continued to keep up with the average stack Jones’s but the blinds were increasing. My first flop/action came with 500/1500 blinds (a stupid level?) with 200 ante. My stack sat at about 16,000 and there was 4,000 in the pot in blinds/antes and it was folded around to me on the button and I looked at T8o. With an M of 4 and two scared players behind me with stacks a little less, I pushed all-in. The SB quickly folded and the BB took a long time to consider and finally called. He showed 33. I think it was a bad call by him as he had 11,000 chips and no chance of being a big favorite in the hand, but he held up and I was down to around 5,000. I needed a hand, and two hands later I caught an AK. A player went all-in in front of me so I called in this spot and Lou Holtz called behind us. They showed 77 and QJ, and I hit two Kings to beat them both and my stack was back to 18,000.

I picked up TT soon after that and the player on my right raised to 5,000. I had been watching him and knew his range was like 44+, AQ/AJ. There wasn’t much room left with the blinds in this spot, so even with 6 players to act behind us I pushed my 18,000 chips in with the tens. The BB was somewhat short and called about 6,000 worth, and the raiser thought for an eternity (someone else called a clock on him) and finally mucked 77 face up. I held over the BBs A8 and had around 30,000 chips as we hit 20 players and the $500 payout mark. 11-20 would get $500, 6-10 got $1,000, 5th $5,000 4th $7,500 3rd $10,000 2nd $20,000 1st $35,000. I was sure that the last 5 or 6 would propose an equity chop, so that was the goal to reach the last 6 or so in decent shape and then decide what to do.

I held steady for a while as we got down to 16 and I was moved to the other table to even things out. I wished everyone good luck at the table and joked around right away as I was late in putting out my ante. I asked how much the ante was and they said 800, and I said “That’s the same as it was at the other table! I don’t know why they moved me over here!” and they all laughed. I think it’s good to show a relaxed image as it becomes intimidating to players who are tense. None of them wanted to bust out and get $500 after coming this far. There were some very tense guys at the table. But the blinds were now 3000/6000 and I had 30,000 so my M was only about 2, and the average stack was around 60,000. On the first hand at that table I saw 66 as the cutoff, and as first in I raised. The button had only around 15,000 chips but the blinds were large stacks. The button mucked quickly, the SB took a long time but mucked, and the BB called and he showed A5. Questionable call for 24,000 chips which was about ¼ of his stack, perhaps my loose attitude made him think I was pushing with any two cards, but my 66 held and I doubled through. I said Now I know why they brought me over to this table!”

As it turned out, that 66 was a profitable hand. Soon after that, we were down to 15 players and an equity split was proposed. After some confusion the stacks were counted and numbers were figured, my equity was $5,130. The shortest stack equity was $2,100+ and the largest was $9,100+. I was happy to leave with $5100 which was basically 5th place prize money but I was also the most relaxed person in the field and wouldn’t have minded playing against a bunch of guys who were desperate to hang on for 5th or better. But if everyone else wanted the chop I’d go along. The equity deal was accepted by all and we all went home.

Overall, a nice score and I was happy with my play. I think I’m going to start playing some more live tournaments.

Day 1 at the Orleans tourney

2006-12-06T08:24:00.000-08:00

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“Fear leads to anger, Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering” Yoda

I played my day#1 of the Orleans/Coast freeroll yesterday. There were four heats, 2 Monday and two yesterday, and each one played down to 27 players. There were 133 showed up for my heat, and I survived down to 27. So today the remaining 108 players will play. The average chip stack will be around 8,500 and I have about 14,500 so I am in decent shape, but the blinds will be 400/800 with 150 ante so there isn't too much room .

What I’m most pleased about though is that I feel I played well throughout the day yesterday and had a good feel for where my opponents stood in every pot I entered. I hadn’t played a live n/l tourney in quite a while so it was fresh and new to me, but once the rustiness is shed, I think I tend to make better decisions when I hop into a game I haven’t played too much recently.

My first table broke quickly, then my second table was great! Although they said there were only 6 no-shows the entire first two heats, my heat had 23 no shows and for more than an hour there were four no-shows at my table. So we were six handed with some dead blind money, but unfortunately all 4 no-shows were seated in succession and I acted immediately after them. Essentially this meant I was UTG 4 hands in a row, and another player was on the button 4 hands in a row. But the table was very readable, and within twenty minutes I felt in full control. I sat in seat #1. The player to my left telegraphed his preflop actions every time, allowing me to steal easier and fold when he was planning to raise. The next player was aggressive and strong, but I think did not have much live experience. He raised a lot and I took an opportunity to come over the top of him and make a nice resteal. Seat #4 was very passive, and seat #5 was passive preflop and on the flop, but would let go to further aggression. The last guy, seat #6 who was on the button 4 hands in a row, was interesting. He was semi-aggressive but seemed to pick bad spots. He seemed to understand the concept of aggression but not when to apply it, and not when to fold to it. I felt he was someone who could be a good player but lacked some experience right now and I thought I could outplay him.

I made myself a fairly tight image, then went to work with a few steals. I raised on a 96o in the hijack after seat 2 and 4 had telegraphed they were folding. This left seat 3 who would likely respect my early position raise and a BB who would call with a decent holding, put more chips in, then fold later. Seat 3 indeed folded and the BB called and called my CB on a QJ4 flop. He had already discussed his style of play and made it known that if someone bet twice that his top pair weak kicker couldn't be good, so I fired off a second barrel on the 6 of clubs turn after making it seem like I was trying to figure out how much I could milk him for. He flashed me the AJ and I said "good fold" as I took down a nice pot with 9 high. Then with A2 and blinds at 50/100 in the small blind, I completed when the BB telegraphed that he was checking his option (I'd normally fold here except when I feel I have a good handle on the table) and saw a 4-way flop of 227 two spades and a king of spades turn. I held the ace of spades. I had such a good feeling here that the play was to check it twice, and seat #6 (shows aggression at wrong times, doesn't realize to fold to further aggression), indeed fired 300 into a 400 pot on the king and I came over the top for 900 with 3 dueces and the nut flush draw. I was certain he would have bet a flush draw on that flop so he didn’t have a flush. I was hoping he had a hand like KQ with the queen of spades. The other two players in the hand quickly folded but he called the raise after taking some time, then called my 600 bet on the river when a jack came. He had KJ. By the first break I had more than doubled my 2,000 stack to 4,400.

I made a couple steals after the break that didn’t work out and depleted my stack, then was moved to a full table (they got rid of the no-show stacks) and followed a couple limpers into pots that didn’t work out and found myself down to 2,200. With blinds 100/200, I needed to double through, I called on the button after several limpers with KJs, as I wanted to give myself a couple opportunities to hit a flop, but any preflop raise would commit me. I was fully prepared to go to the felt with top pair heads-up, or prepared to bet with a flush/straight draw if checked to me. As it turned out the flop came 34J with two spades, a player with about the same stack went all-in in front of me. I had a good read on him and figured him for a weaker jack or KJ or a draw. I felt that with his stack size he would have raised AJ preflop and wouldn’t be playing any hand that could have made 2-pair there and he would have c/r on a set. I thought he likely held QJ/JT/possibly two spades so I went all-in having him slightly covered. But when the SB (an experienced player) called both of us after checking the flop I didn’t feel so good. When we turned over the cards the bettor had 78s for a spade draw and the SB had 34 for 2 pair. A nice J on the turn meant I needed to dodge just a spade and when I did, my stack was nearly 6,000. These are the breaks needed to win a tournament.

After that I played real well, and only went to a showdown once. At 200/400, the chip leader at the table raised to 1000 preflop when I had TT in the SB. This guy had already said he folded QQ preflop and told us all a story about having a monster stack in his last tourney and losing it all when he could have coasted into the money. He said that he would never make that mistake again…folks, you just shouldn’t go around volunteering this kind of info!! I felt he would lay down anything but AA/KK here to a substantial raise and made it 3500 to go, making it obvious that I was pot-commited. He layed down after giving a frustrated look. He flashed his cards but I didn’t see them, one person said it was JJ another said AQs. Later I made a squeeze play with an 89 from the BB on a 865 board when a woman bet the minimum 300 and there was a caller in between us and I made it 1500. The caller was a good player who used to play all the circuit events before the TV era (I remembered playing with him at Foxwoods 4-5 years ago) and would respect my raise, the woman was someone who wanted to play minimum bets all the time but would fold to significant raises (and now had 2 players to worry about). She folded quickly and he flashed an eight and mucked.

Toward the end of the session, an interesting hand came up. There was only 29 left and 27 made day 2 and the money, we were 7-handed and I raised 77 utg to 1200. The table was tight and I fully expected to take it down without a fight. I was quickly called by a guy who had just doubled through with KK and had a little less than me. Prior to that KK hand he was extremely tight. He had already voiced his concerns over making sure he made the money. The speed of his call here made me think AK right away. I honestly think that he folds, or at least takes time to consider folding AQ there, considers raising AA/KK, and is in agony over QQ, JJ. The speed of his call made me figure AK. Flop was dangerous, 9TQ with two hearts, I bet out 3000 and he called again quickly. I had to consider JJ/AQ/or a set, but with those hands I think he would take some more time to consider his action. Turn was safe, a deuce. If I pull the trigger here it had to be for all his chips and most of mine. I had about 5,000 more and he had 3,000. I figured if I was right about the AK, this guy would take the free card if I checked to him. The other possibility to consider was JJ, but again I felt sure he would take the free card. I knew if an ace, king, or jack came on the river, I could easily release my hand to a bet. It was a tough decision, but I decided to check. I'm still not certain it was correct. He checked behind after considerable thought, and when a four came on the river, I checked and planned to probably call a bet. I still thought he likely had AK, and wasn't sure the possibility of getting him offf JJ warrented the bet. As for calling, I just didn’t see any hand he’d bet for value there. With any one pair he’d be happy checking down without having to risk his last chips, with 2 pair/set he certainly would have protected his hand with a raise on the flop or a bet on the turn. I don’t think he figured his AK was any good and he agonized on the river just as he did on the turn, wanting to pull the trigger but he couldn't bring himself to risk his last chips. I announced “two sevens” and he shook his head and showed the AK.

It was surprising how desperately some of the players wanted to hang on for the $100 payout for making the final 108. There was a guy who came to my last table with around 4,000 chips and folded every single hand dealt to him and survived with 175 chips left (at the 100 ante level!!) When the last guy busted he gave everyone high fives at the table, lol.

So I finished the day with 14,400 chips and the avg stack is around 8,500. Hopefully, I’ll play well and have some luck today. With 108 players there is about $1000 payout per person, but $82,000 of it is for the final 10 players, so the final table is necessary to make any real money. I anticipate fast action early, as low-chippers who were hanging on for the $100 payout will likely be going all in quickly, as the next pay jump is not till 50 players ($250).

Kramer!!

2006-12-01T10:07:00.000-08:00

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Quote of the day: "Sometimes life's gonna hit you in the head with a brick; don't lose faith" Steve Jobs

I was an hour short to qualify for the Orleans $100,000 tournament, so I went down there yesterday to finish up. I say the Orleans, but it’s actually 4 different casinos all poolng for the tournament and it looks like they’re expecting a pretty big turnout, they have a signup list and four different starting times, you can choose Monday afternoon or night or Tuesday afternoon or night and then the final day is on Wednesday. I figured if I go in the afternoon it will be a higher percentage of retired guys and bingo women, players who I find are generally easier to read and manipulate in the pot, so I chose Tuesday afternoon.

Actually, I had realized yesterday that it has been quite a while since I’ve played any MTTs. It always seems refreshing to switch types/styles of games, so I logged into Stars last night and signed up for 2 MTTs.

The first one I saw on the list was a $33 HORSE tourney with about 150 players signed up and said “accepting late registration” so I quickly signed up. I think HORSE is such a great game! Most of the players seemed to be inept at at least one or two of the games. Too many of them overplayed one-way hands in Omaha, didn’t understand Razz concepts, and made reraises with wired Queens in stud h/l. Most of them seemed to understand the holdem, but the other games usually only one or two players who seemed to grasp the games well, so a lot of dead money in there. I ran fairly well and when we got down to two tables left, one guy called my raise in Razz on two different hands with a Queen doorcard and beat me both times. Both times I had started 643 and A47 and made a nine low. I finally knocked him out at the final table when I reraised his KT in holdem with AJ and we got it all in on an 863 flop and he didn’t hit. With 4 players left I had the chip lead, but the blinds were so high that one hand would turn it and so it did. As the SB 4 handed, I had AQ and the button raised, I reraised, and the big blind cold-called and button called. Flop came 446 two hearts, I bet out, BB called and button folded. I didn’t feel too great here, but big blind didn’t raise the turn so he could have a weaker ace, and if he had a pair I figured my 6 outs were clean. I bet the turn putting him all-in and sure enough he had ATo, but hit running hearts to beat me. A little bit later in Omaha I raised this guy with A3TT and he called, flopped TQQ and he checkraised and we made it maximum bets on the flop putting us just about all-in. I was sure he had a Queen and I had to dodge some cards, and when we turned it over he held AQ35, giving him plenty of outs. The case Queen finished my run in fourth place.

I also tried a deep stack tourney on Stars and thought it was great, lots of play and room to maneuver. You start with 250 big blinds and 30 minute levels. I managed to run my 5000 stack up to 10,000. Unfortunately, after like 2 ½ hours only half the field was gone and I realized this thing was going to outlast my tired eyes. I tried a donk move to try to double through quickly or bust, and I went bust. Looks like a fun tourney to play if you have the time.

Found a funny video, the Lost Seinfeld episode, putting together some Seinfeld clips with the recent Michael Richards incident. Man, I miss that show…Kramer!!

FOLD--a four letter word

2006-11-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

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If you want to be wisely selfish, care for others. All the happiness and virtue in this world comes from selflessness and generosity, all the sorrow from egotism, selfishness, and greed Lama Surya Das

Taking Riverrun’s initiative, I’m going to make a post about folding. Seven years ago when I started playing regularly, I used to fold a lot more. The main strength to my game lied in my patience and discipline. There used to be a saying, “If you never fold a winning hand, you can’t possibly win in the long run.” While some of the rocks might have taken that saying too far years ago, many of the looser, newer players don’t realize how true this saying actually is.

I remember the time I was playing stud hi-lo when a pretty good player bet into me heads up and I folded a marginal EV hand that most of the players at the table would have called with based on my board, and Mickey turned to me and says “Nobody folds a hand like you, Kev” and showed me his three Aces.

Over the years, much of my game has improved; my reading ability, my value bets, my ability to manipulate pots and pot sizes, my understanding of stack sizes in tournaments, etc. But my folding ability is the one area that has probably become a little worse and perhaps I need to get back to my roots. Some of this is natural due to the increased, though often misplaced, aggression that some players have in the post-WPT era. It used to be that when someone raised you, it generally meant you were beaten unless you had a big hand and a fold was worth more in the long run to your bottom line than a call or raise. The occasional overplaying or bluffing was not frequent enough to necessitate “paying them off” with a call very often. Today, however, players are a bit more aggressive, and many of them overplay hands, so I tend to pay them off a bit more frequently than I used to. It’s not so much that they are outright bluffing all that much more often, but more so that there are so many poor players who are raising hands they think are the best because they just aren’t in tune enough with the game to know that their hand is not the best.

Just last night I played a hand where I had 99, I raised and was reraised preflop, I bet the K65 flop and was raised again. I gave some thought to reraising this opponent cause I had an aggressive image at this table and he may be playing back at me with less, but I was out-of-position with two streets to come and decided I would fold this time. My opponent tabled AQ for all to see. It was a strange hand to show. Why did he show it? I asked him if he was showing it because he thought he was ahead or because he thought he was behind and had bluffed me, and from his reaction I could tell that he really didn’t know the answer. Finally, he said “I think I was ahead”. Although this was the on the flop and there could be other reasons to be raising here, I see people make raises like this later in the hand, even on the river with position, with unpaired AK or with a hand like JJ that they “slowplay” until there are two overcards on the board. These are hands that have showdown value on the river, but the holder of the cards doesn’t know if he's ahead or behnd, and doesn't realize that he is trying a river value bet that has no value if called and either can't get a better hand to fold in limit or doesn't bet enough to be bluffing in no-limit. I believe this is the basis for the “Dark Tunnel Bluff” theory that Harrington wrote about in one of his books.

Obviously, you don’t make anything on a particular hand by folding, but the value you save can be enormous and I still contend that especially in full-ring games, even in today’s over-aggressive games, more end-of-the-month profit is derived from correct folds than correct calls, both in limit and no-limit. In no-limit, correct betting amounts is probably more important than either, but catching bluffs in the lower limit no-limit games is usually of less value than folding obviously beaten hands. This may become somewhat less true in short-handed games and in higher stakes games, but is still a factor. And I’m not talking about making “great laydowns” like folding your set because you think someone has a bigger set. I’m talking about folding your KJ because you’ve bet and been raised on the KQ46 turn by a tight player.

In relating all this to zen, I find that people are often unable to fold hands because of their ego. They can’t handle being “shown up” if someone shows them a bluff, and can’t stand the not knowing if they made the right decision or not if the player doesn’t show. Folding (or not folding) correctly is a lot about ego and you can capitalize on this by lessening your own ego and taking advantage of your opponents tendencies to protect their's.

Okay, I’ve convinced myself, I’m going to make a special effort to concentrate on this a bit more the rest of this week.

Faw dolla!

2006-11-19T07:23:00.000-08:00

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Quote of the Day: “In your society, you admire the man who pushes his way to the top, while we admire the man who abandons his ego” from Seven Years in Tibet

Posted an interesting hand I played the other day on PSO. Also a shameless myspace plug for a great band that should have a new ablum out before the end of the year.

I’ve been playing at the Orleans a lot lately. They have a $100,000 tournament in early December for anyone who gets in 80 hours in October/November. There's been a few of these type tournaments around town in recent months but with my health issues it's been difficult to get in enough hours to qualify. Mostly I’m playing their Omaha h/l game which is 4/8 with a kill, often a very juicy game with many pots reaching well over $100. Last night a guy went on a rush and went from being all-in on one hand to running up a $700+ stack in an hour. The reward/risk ratio in this game is very high.

One of the dealers at the Orleans really impresses me, a girl from Thailand who is not only a good dealer but handles herself very well with the customers. She is always smiling and happy and making jokes. She moves the game quickly and if she makes a mistake, she is quick to admit it and figure out how to correct it. She takes her job seriously without taking what anyone says seriously. Truly one of the most pleasant dealers I’ve seen in Vegas, and anything rude someone says to her does not seem to affect her a minute later, very zen-like. I was laughing the other day in the 4/8 game when a situation came up where a guy made a flop string-raise to $8, and the second guy called $4 not realizing the first guy raised. The second guy quickly took his $4 back and objected to the string-raise, and she corrected the situation quickly and the string-raiser was fine with it, but the other guy didn’t realize it was corrected and she said, “Okay, aw ova, do you unta caw da faw?” in her Thai-English and the second guy, who thought the string raise was still in question stands up and bangs the table and says “Yes, call the damn floor!” and she bangs the table playfully in front of him and says “No, da faw dolla!” and I nearly peed my pants!

PLO8 on stars

2006-10-19T00:52:00.000-07:00

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Quote of the day: "There are alot of old Joes in this world, but not alot of old Kevins" Joe from the corner deli back in Queens

I posted an interesting AA hand the other day on PSO which I got a lot of feedback from. It’s always fun to exchange ideas with guys there.

The PSO league has been fun again, though my results have not been as good as the last league. I probably sit somewhere around 30-40th place 5 events into it. Last night I finished 23rd and my best result so far is 13th. It seems to me that Absolute has changed their blind structure or changed the amount of time for the blinds, because there is not nearly as much play as their was last league. It becomes an all-in fest much sooner than a poker tournament should and takes away the play and much of the skill. The league has become mostly a preflop game now after the first 90 minutes or so, and I think that takes away too much from the game.

Online, I’ve switched over to playing a bit at Pokerstars and going to try Full Tilt this week. Mostly I’ve been playing the $100 buy-in PLO8 games and some n/l S&Gs. I have a lot of LO8 experience but not as much PLO8 but I think that the game is very beatable. I did well last night in about 1 ½ hours I ran both my stacks up over $250 but lost a big pot on a flop of 2c3cJs when I held Ac5cAd2s and got $120 all-in on the flop (he bet pot, I raised pot, he went all in) against a guy with a set of 3s, no clubs, and no low draw. The turn/river came TT. I scoop the pot with any ace, four, or club (except Jc) and split with a 6,7,or 8. I guess I also coulda scooped with running 55, 22, or JJ too. If anyone is sophisticated to do the math on that please let me know. I think I was a decent favorite on that flop against a set of 3s, plus fold equity. My pot raise made him either commit to the pot or fold. I didn’t like the prospects of calling since a bad turn card I may not be able to call a pot sized bet, and a club I don’t think he pays me off. Personally, I don’t think I would have called a big raise with 33 there. Any PLO8 guys to weight in on this?

UIGEA: alternate comparisons and changing perspective

2006-10-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

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Quote of the day: "If you follow every dream, you might get lost." Neil Young

I’ve thought a lot about the recent online gaming bill that passed through Congress, but many of the thoughts I have are similar to those expressed elsewhere so I thought I’d try to focus on something from a Zen perspective that might help players who are angry and are not sure how to vent this anger. These are concepts that I call “alternate comparison” and “shifting perspective.” These concepts can help you to maintain a positive outlook when something is taken away from you or when trying to accept change. Since a few people have emailed me to ask about my health situation, I’ll take my recent problems as an example.

About 14 weeks ago I had back surgery and when I awoke I couldn’t move my legs. After two days I had regained much of the movement in my left leg and there was some very minute function in my right leg. At that time, it was figured that I had suffered a type of nerve damage and that eventually I would likely regain full function of my muscles, even though it may take up to 2 years to do so.

A few days later I was transferred to a rehab center. It was a gloomy situation. The facility was not he best, as my health coverage does not pay very well. As for me, I could not get out of bed without assistance, I could not stand up, I could not even get from the bed to the wheelchair without assistance. I wasn’t even strong enough to use a walker. Heck, I couldn’t even use the bathroom by myself or wipe my own ass! It was quite a degrading situation, even for someone who has made efforts over the years to abandon his ego…I guess I still have a long way to go on that.

But I was comparing my situation to the past, my past. I had always been healthy. I was always free to walk where I wanted, to hike, play racquetball, and was a person who was able to help others when they needed a hand. But my situation had changed and I felt upset about it. My spirits were down to say the least.

It was time for some alternate comparison. So I looked around me at the rehab center. I was surrounded by mostly older patients, some who were experiencing more pain than me. Some who had little hope for recovery like I did. Some who had no money to continue medical care when they left the center. Some who were dying. Some who had given up on life.

I also thought of people I grew up with. I remembered a kid named Eric who had cerebral palsy, a condition which produced symptoms similar to mine, with the exception that I was recovering muscle function each day while he had to deal with it his entire life. I thought about wounded soldiers coming back from Iraq who may be in a wheelchair for the rest of their lives. I thought about the soldiers who came home in body bags and their families. Suddenly, my outlook had changed, simply by comparing myself to those less fortunate. I saw that I had many things to be thankful for.

The other concept, shifting perspective, helped me also. Instead of concentrating on the things I couldn’t do, I looked at the opportunities that had been presented to me. I had been given an opportunity to challenge myself. Each day became a challenge to get a little further. It started with trying transfer my body from the bed to the wheelchair. Then to try to walk on the parallel bars using a little more leg strength each day. Then the walker, bathroom, shower, etc. all became challenges that I looked forward to each day and strengthened my resolve. My solitary situation also gave me the time at night to catch up on some reading that I had wanted to do. I strengthened my relationship with my brother, as he came out to help me, including moving all my stuff to a new apartment on the first floor since I wouldn’t be able to do stairs when I got out and then talked to him every day on the phone after he left Las Vegas. And most of all, I was given the opportunity to help others in the rehab center by encouraging them and helping them to see things from a different perspective. I developed a nice relationship with one guy in particular who had a stroke named Jack and his wife Marie, and feel I was influential to Jack in his recovery.

In the end, I spent three weeks at the rehab center and made a number of friends, learned how to call numbers for the center’s bingo games, and I left there with the ability to get myself in and out of the wheelchair and walker and return home with the ability to take care of myself. With some help from home therapy, six weeks after that I began to walk again. While I still have a long way to go to have full muscle function and hope that it will happen, I have so much to be thankful for in this world and realize that even if it doesn’t happen, that cannot take away my happiness in life. So on one hand, I will do whatever is necessary to recover fully, and on the other hand, my happiness is not solely dependent upon accomplishing this goal, therefore I am once again in full control of my own situation and not concerned about things I cannot control.

So, poker players, ask yourself, how can you use these concepts of alternate comparison and shifting perspective to feel better about the current online poker situation? Or even help you in something else in your life that you are struggling with?

Rehab

2006-10-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

I've gone through a particularly tough time recently with some nerve damage. I spent about 2-3 months to regain the strength in my nerve signals/muscles to be able to walk again, but thankfully I am able to walk under my own power once again and hopefully after some time I may even get back to an active lifestyle. While I'm still a long way off from a full recovery, there are certainly positive signs in that regard.

Luxeries such as writing a blog have been put on the back burner for a while, but I plan to get back to it now as it is something I was enjoying. I am glad to see that a few people have emailed me with good wishes and glad to know that they hoped I would return to writing the blog.

More coming soon...

back updates

2006-07-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

thanks everyone who has been checking out my site and leaving comments. I've had some complications from back surgery, it will be a least another week or two before I will be well enough to sit down at the computer again. Thanks for all the good thoughts.

Back surgery, WSOP plans, and online poker

2006-06-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

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Quote of the day: “Poker is the only game in the world where it pays to surround yourself with the biggest morons you can find.” Phil Gordon

I’ve been busy battling back pain and have been playing mostly online since I can’t sit in a chair very long. I’m scheduled for back surgery June 28. I was hoping to play in the first preliminary event at the WSOP this year on June 27 ($1500 n/l) but that isn't going to happen. If all goes well I hope to be well enough to play the $1000 no-limit event on July 10. I also plan to play the $1000 seven-card stud h/l split event on July 24, and maybe one more of the July no-limit events that have buy-ins of $1500-$2000 (there are several). If I cash significantly in any of them I will play more events.

Last year I had some personal issues which kept me in New York during the WSOP. In 2004 I played in the $1500 stud h/l split event and went out with six tables left, missing the cash and was knocked out by Hassan Habib (who went on to win). That tournament, along with the nightly $200 "second chance" tourneys was about all the risk tolerance I could handle. Toward the end of that trip I cashed in one of the "second-chance" tourneys as well as the Mirage tournament and was able to manage a break even for the series.

I haven’t gotten involved in any of the satellites for the main event simply because I have a certain amount of risk allowable and I’d rather use it for cash-making tournaments rather than satellite seats. In other words, winning a $10,000 seat means much less to me than $10,000 in cash, which I think would be more profitable to invest into smaller buy-in tournaments. I’m sure I could win a seat, but it’s likely to cost me 2-3K to win it and I’d rather put that money into other ventures/tournaments like the WSOP preliminary events. Perhaps I’ll try a freeroll or two before they’re done but I just find them a time killer as there are so many people in them. If anybody wants to put up the $10K for me or even $1500 for one of the preliminary events, I’ll work out a good deal with you :)

So I've been playing alot online since I can lay on the couch while doing it. It’s tough to say which is more profitable; online or live. I have found them pretty close from an hourly rate standpoint. Online gets more hands, you can multi-table, no tipping etc. But I also play lower stakes online since it provides less variance and the play is generally considerably tougher online at equal stakes. For example, the $1/2 and $2/5 no-limit blind games live are full of many more recreational/tourist players without much experience, while online the average player is much more experienced at those levels. Overall the online games I play provide a similar hourly rate for me as live with less variance (which is good), but I can only play so many hours online in a day. I don’t see how some guys can play more than 30 hours a week of online play without burning out, but some players do it. Live time goes by fast, as there is lots of social interaction and the pace is slow, which makes discipline and patience a more important part of the game. Online is more like poker on steroids. If I’m not involved in other activities, 50 hours a week is easily doable live for me, while I doubt I could ever play more than 30 online in a week.

I’ve gotten a few emails about the posts I did on credit ratings. I was working on another one but it spun off on so many tangents (with a few examples) that I haven’t finished it yet. I’ll probably beak it into several more posts on credit ratings as I think it is a very important and often under-utilized concept in poker that can help many players. It will be good to post them and then later if I talk about a hand and why a certain move was made I can just reference those posts. And that’s what I think poker blogging, forums, and articles are all about; I try to share ideas of mine and get back from others by reading about their ideas.

Enjoy your day!

107 in Vegas

2006-06-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

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"We know everything we need to live in a balanced way. We know how to breathe, pay attention, stretch, eat healthy, visualize success, and so on. Being out of balance is a simple matter of forgetting what we know. Being in balance is a simple matter of remembering what we know." Jack/Zen

There is a real good thread here over at 2p2 about last week's WPT show reagrding some of the hands played between Barry Greenstein and Blair Rodman. It is one of the most interesting/informative threads I've seen on theat site in some time. Barry (barryg1) and Blair (Blair) both posted in the thread regarding their play and their analyses is very interesting. One of the hands they talk about is where Blair raised with TT, someone called in between, and Barry moved all-in with 77 and both Blair and the other player folded. Barry also talks why he declined to hold up a beer for the toast.

107 degrees today in Vegas. Welcome to June and thank God for a/c. I still can't sit too long at the table becuase of my back problems so I've been playing mostly online, mixing up n/l cash on Pokerroom, S&Gs on Paradise, and some h/l stud on Pokerstars.

In a S&G last night 4-handed I made a late position raise with T9s and got minraised and called and the flop came T94. We got it all in and I took down his KK. So much for the min-raise. He was very polite and said "Go read a poker book you fxxxin donkey!" Now, honestly, why would he want me to do that? So that I can get better? Obviously he thinks I made a bad play.

I just started reading Harrington's volume three. It's written in Quiz format with spaces for answers and can be graded as a test. I got through the first 8 problems so far and it's well-done. I disagree with Dan's analyses a few times and his scoring, I think some of the questions can have several stylistic differences. Also I think he advocates bets that are too small in a number of circumstances when a slightly larger bet will allow you to know where you are in the hand, such as betting 80 into a 110 pot rather than the 55 he recommends. For 55 I think we are too likely to get called by a very wide range and/or to be bluffed off the hand. But I like that there is a scoring system and it's good to see which type of hands you miss points on and can pinpoint that type as something you may want to analyse and keep an open mind about alternatives. I skimmed ahead and there are 591 total points available and he says anything 400 or better is a player who clearly should make good money in multi tournaments and 500 is a wold-class player. I think he is leaving some flexibility for different stylistic approaches by allowing a world class player to disagree with him by as much as 91 points. So far I scored 84/110, and I really need to think through the Jen Harmon hand cause I just can't see folding this hand on the turn right now and his suggestion of calling the flop makes for a very tough turn decision if the board doesn't pair. Anyway, I definately recommend this book for tournament players even if you don't have the first two Harrington books (but I recommend getting them as well).

Fixed-rate credit

2006-06-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

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Quote of the day: “For twenty-five years when I have raised with a big up-card in stud, I have invariably had a big pair. But they always think I don’t have it this time and they call me.” David Grey

In the last post on credit we saw how playing opposite to your perceived style, credit rating, or image, will produce profitable opportunities in poker. We can break our opponents into two broad categories when they issue us a credit rating. One category is people who will give you a credit rating based upon how they see you play, we call these “adjustable-rate creditors” and they are abundant at high stakes and although less common at low stakes, there are still plenty of them there too. The other category is players who will issue us their “default” credit rating and never adjust it simply because they don’t bother to pay enough attention to what you are doing. This second category is rampant at small stakes, while rare at higher stakes. We will call them “fixed-rate creditors.” Realize that these are the opposite ends of the spectrum and there are many players who fit somewhere in the grey area in between, but most players usually have a heavy leaning toward one or the other.

As for fixed-rate creditors, they rarely bother to update your rating to the true credit rating that you deserve. This means that you can have a very profitable situation against these players by playing a style which is different than the credit they are giving you. These players are mostly casual internet players, players playing for entertainment in local games, or tourists on vacation. On the internet, games are so quick and have such a high turnover rate, and there is often nothing to tell the difference between players except a screen-name. These players won’t notice the difference between “Spankme69” and “EuropeRick” no matter how different those two guys might play. As far as live games, the entertainment players and tourists are there to enjoy themselves, and trying to figure out a game-plan to play against various players seems too much like “work” to them.

So how do we handle fixed-rate creditors? This is easy, and it is what makes low stakes very profitable and much easier to beat than higher stakes games. First of all, realize what makes up someone’s default rating. Normally they issue you a credit rating similar to the style they play themselves. After all, if they play that way, they assume you will to, no matter how differently you actually play from them. Their default rating might also consist of the style that is normally played in their home games or the style played on the poker they watch on TV. In the case of the internet, they default you to the “typical” online player. While most of these players issue default credit ratings that are similar to each other, also recognize when they are not. For instance, a tight by-the-book player who doesn’t observe others well will assume you will not bet big without a big hand, so you can steal pots from him. But typically, the default ratings are very loose, low credit ratings that fall somewhere between thinking you are a LAG (loose-aggressive player) and LAP (loose-passive player). In general, they usually assume you want to play a lot of ands and will bet and raise with a wide range. They assume that you will bluff somewhat often, so here is where the LAG looses on bluffs but gains on value betting. The fact that these fixed-rate creditors are so abundant in low stakes cash games means that playing a generally TAGish style usually gets their money because you simply fold bad hands and get paid off for good ones. If you can throw in a little bit of a LAGish value betting against these players as well, more power to you. The lack of understanding this (or lacking the patience to play TAG) is often frustrating for players and causes them to make ridiculous statements like “higher stakes games are easier to beat.” While complete LAG can be more fun and you might learn better skills for when you graduate to higher stakes, it is more difficult to play and usually won’t make any more money than a simple TAG game, and often less.

Do keep in mind though, even though you will normally be issued a loose, low, fixed-rate credit rating by many low stakes players, there are subtle differences in some of these default creditors. So if you pay attention, you can formulate a slightly different plan of attack against each one. Some will pay off value bets more than others, some will fold to scary boards more than others. Watch what they do against other players. If they give credit for a good hand on a scary board and lay down against one player, they will likely give you the same credit and lay down to you even if you are a well-known bluffer. If they pay off river bets with one pair against a loose player, they will likely do the same against a tight player. If they always bet when checked to against one player, they are likely to do it against you even if you constantly check-raise. They usually won’t adjust to this until they have been check-raised to death, and if they do adjust, they will usually adjust for the entire table and not just the check-raiser. If they call raises with KT, they assume you will too. If they refuse to fold top pair, they assume you will too and will bet their two pair into your set or well hidden straight all day. If they chase flushes, they assume you will too, so if you flop a boat and a flush comes out you may lose your fish. If they like to bluff, they assume you will too and will pay off your value bets and call down your bluff attempts. If they talk about poker on TV, they will assume you play like the guys on TV and might push all-in with QJ preflop and they will happily call with AJ. In general, the more opposite you can make your actual style against this player’s default credit rating, the more you can make from that player.

Also, watch for some who may smarten up after a while and decide to adjust your credit to closer to the way you actually play. Remember, these are not dumb people, just not experienced or responsive poker players. Eventually, a little something you do may resonate with them, but it usually takes a long while to sink in until they make an adjustment.

Next time: adjustable-rate credit

Credit check

2006-06-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

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Quote of the day: "Do not use this one day wastefully...this one day cannot be retrieved once it is lost" Dogen Zenji

When you are trying to buy a house, it is important to know your credit score. When you are trying to make money in poker, your credit becomes equally important. I am talking about how your opponents perceive you. Manipulating your credit and using it to your advantage is one of the most important tools you have in no-limit cash games or tournaments. Based upon how your opponents perceive you, you can formulate a gameplan around it, either for just one hand or for the entire session. You can make money regardless of whether you have good credit or bad credit, but you usually profit by making plays that are contrary to your normal line of credit. This is one of the most important concepts in poker. If you are aware of your approximate credit score, you can use this knowledge against your opponents.

Just like in life, a poker credit score is made up of many things and is a bit complex. But we can start by breaking credit into two general categories, good credit and bad credit. In general, a player like Dan Harrington has good credit. He can use this image to get others to lay down better hands. When he makes a big hand it is more difficult for him to get paid off because of his good credit rating. So he must find ways to manipulate his good credit to his advantage. He does that by getting other players to lay down hands that they should be calling him with. A player like Sam Farha has generally bad credit, he is seen as someone who plays a lot of pots and makes raises with weak or suspect holdings to try to get others to fold. Because of this, he cannot get others to lay down hands easily. So he learns when not to bluff, and uses his credit rating to get paid off on his big hands by players who should fold. Let’s look at a hand from each of them from ESPN and see how they use their credit to their advantage.

There was a hand during the 2004 World Series final table that involved Josh Arieh, Greg Raymer, and Dan Harrington. I would consider all three as solid players and all aware of credit scores, both their own and of the others at the table. Josh’s credit was not very high, as he was raising and involved in a lot of pots. Greg’s credit was more complex. While on one hand he was perceived as a “bully” at that final table and was raising and involved in many pots, on the other hand most of the cards he showed down were winners, so his credit while not high, was sort of a more complicated mix. In addition, he was chip leader so it made it less likely the others would make a play on him even with a lower credit score. Dan’s credit was high, he was seen as someone who would almost always have a big hand when he raised. So, on this particular play, Josh raised from early position (with K-9). Greg called with a semi-weak hand (A-2s). I would imagine he called because of the combination of Josh’s poor credit, his position advantage on Josh, and because his large chip stack was likely to intimidate all the players behind him into folding unless they held a big hand. After the raise and call, there was a very significant amount of chips in the pot. Dan had reason to believe that Josh did not have a real strong hand (based on his bad credit) and that if Dan raised Josh would likely fold most hands he might have based upon Dan’s credit score and the addition of Raymer’s call with an intimidating stack behind him. Dan was also to believe that Greg’s call represented a hand that Greg called because of position, his intimidating stack, and Josh’s poor credit. In addition, Greg’s credit was as a bully, so there was no need for Greg to slow play a big hand in that spot, so Dan did not figure Greg to have a big hand. So Dan looked down at his hand, 6-2, and made a significant raise into the pot. David Williams, who had AQ this hand, folded quickly based partly upon Dan’s credit. Josh and Greg folded as well and Dan picked up the blinds, antes, and the amount of Josh’s raise and Greg’s call, which was a significant increase to his stack. In addition, he did not have to show his 6-2 hand, so his credit remained in tact. A play like this is where Dan can make a profit from to make up for the lack of times he actually does get paid off when he has a good hand. If players started to call him in these spots because they know he can make this play with 6-2, then Dan’s credit would go down, and then he could simply play tight knowing he could get paid off when he hits a big hand.

In thinking of an example of bad credit that has been seen on TV, look at Sam Farha on the first episode of the 2005 World Series. On the very first hand, he was able to double through. With blinds at 25/50 and each having 10,000 in chips, Oliver Hudson and Sam Farha played a hand. Farha raised to 200 with A-T and Hudson reraised with T-T making it 450. The flop came A-A-T and both players checked trying to slow play. The turn was a Queen and Hudson bet 300 and Farha raised to 1300. If you think about the play, Hudson’s hand is not as strong as it appears. There are four hands that beat him AA, AQ, QQ, or AT. It’s unlikely that any opponent there would be willing to put all his chips in the pot unless he held one of those hands. But he was up against a player with a bad credit rating and so under that camouflage Hudson raised all of his remaining chips. Granted, Oliver Hudson may not be the best of poker players, but in discussing this hand with other players whom I respect, some say they would have also gone broke on the hand because it was Sam Farha. Yet none of those players said that they would have lost all their chips if it was a player like Dan Harrington. Against Dan, most would have just called the raise and either bet/folded or checked/called on the river. Sam’s bad credit here allows him to make a huge profit when he hits a hand.

This is the first of several blogs I’m going to do on the credit issue. In future blogs I’ll go a little more into credit using hands I’ve played recently and also talk more about being aware of your own credit and when it means something and when it doesn’t, specifically why credit does/doesn’t matter as related to small stakes games.

"nice hand, sir"

2006-05-30T00:45:00.000-07:00

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“The object of poker is to make correct decisions” Mike Sexton

I’ve been unable to play much live poker lately, due to a freakish back injury where I am unable to walk long distances or even sit in a chair for more than a couple of hours. I cannot even get in my hours for the month for the freeroll they are offering over at The Venetian. To qualify you need to play either 50 hours/month (May-July) or 200 total over the three months. I guess I’ll have to shoot for the 200 total. I estimate the additional expectation this freeroll adds about $20/hour to my hurly expectation (with high variance), so I don’t want to miss out.

So with these back problems I’ve been relegated to playing more online poker than I would like. One thing I notice about online that is different is the way the bad players are often treated. Some players are unbelievably rude to them. Why? I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense. I guess they are using it as a way of getting their own frustrations out, but this is just another type of distraction that keeps us from consistently making the best decisions in a poker game.

Think about it. Bad players make mistakes in poker. It is because of these mistakes that the good players win. The beauty of poker is that when you make a bad mistake, sometimes you get lucky and win anyway, but over the long run repeated mistakes will always result in losing money. But the occasional wins keep the bad players coming back. If it were a game like tennis, the bad tennis player would never beat Andre Agassi and would quickly learn not to play him for money. But in poker, the bad player sometimes wins and his lack of skill becomes camouflaged by his occasional luck.

When a bad player wins online, there are players who will criticize and berate him and say rude things about his mother. I just don’t get the logic. You want him to continue playing and to make mistakes, don’t you? But yet these guys say things that either discourage the bad player from playing, or encourage him to get better.

When I started playing poker about 7 years ago, when a bad player won a hand we used to simply say “nice hand” or “nice hand, sir”. Somewhere along the line the meaning of the phrase was lost and today “nice hand” or “nh” is usually meant in more of a genuine nature by players who lose a pot to a better hand (I now use “well played” when I lose to a suckout). It used to be that after saying “nice hand” you’d look over to another winning player and he’d shoot you back a smile or a nod. It was accepted that you’d keep the bad players happy, being kind and courteous and engaging in conversation and making them feel at home. They’d eventually lose their money as an “entertainment expense” and we’d all go home happy; they were entertained and we were richer. Poker, by nature, is meant to be a social game, but online has changed that in many ways. It has become more about ego to many players.

Enjoy your day!

Selective memory and mindfulness (part 2)

2006-05-28T05:08:00.000-07:00

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Quote of the day: "Before criticizing a man, always walk a mile in his shoes. This way, when you do criticize him, you are a mile away...and you have his shoes" unknown

Let’s finish up our scenario from the other day, when my buddy was frustrated about raising AK late in a S&G and questioning the profitability of it since he was always called by 44. I was suggesting that he was simply suffering from selective memory, since anyone who has played S&Gs accepts that this must be a profitable play.

While we can get good reads on our opponents in many forms and situations in poker by bets, actions, mannerisms, etc., the later stages of an online S&G lends itself to “one-move” poker. Because of the small stack/blind ratios, we cannot use probing bets or analyze actions of our opponents to narrow our range of his hand very much. Hopefully we are at least aware of opponents who may be capable of limping with a hand like AA or KK in these spots, but to differentiate with any certainty an opponent who limps with AJ late in a S&G from an opponent who limps with 44 is nearly impossible. But, in the same sense, they have no way to know if they should interpret our all-in push as AK or 88. They usually will justify themselves by putting you on the hand they have the best chance to beat. If they have 44 they assume you have AK, and if they have AJ they assume you are raising 88. So, if you simply push both of those hands against these players, you cannot go wrong, and they will be in a losing proposition by limping/calling with AJ and 44. If it is a losing strategy for them, then it is a winning strategy for us.

First of all, the player who limps with AJ and 44 will not always call the push. It is just that our selective memory remembers the times he calls and beats us, while disregarding the blinds/limps we steal when he folds. Even if he folds only rarely, we are at a significant advantage by picking up the blinds plus his limp. These are chips that we win without a fight, and this “fold-equity” is the first part of our profitable equation.

But even when he calls we make a sound profit. If our opponent calls with 44 he is about 54% to beat us when we have AK and about 20% when we have 88. When he calls with AJ, he is about 44% against our 88 or 25% against our AK. Overall, he will win an average of only 36% of the time when he calls and we will win 64% of the time. Adding our fold equity to our 64/36 edge when we are called, we have a huge advantage on this play.

Obviously, this scenario has been simplified, and you can take it to other levels by factoring in other hands to see how far down you can make this play and show a profit. The results with hands like AQ/AJ/lower pocket pairs etc. will differ depending on the calling tendencies of your opponents. The more fold equity you have (how often your opponent folds compared to how many chips are won when he folds) and the less likely he is trying to trap you with a high pocket pair, the looser your raising standards can be.

While I’m not breaking any new ground by suggesting making these raises when the blinds are large, the real lesson to take away here is that it is only because of our selective memory that we might question this play. It is just another distraction our mind gives us during the game of poker game. The more distractions you can ignore, the more “mindful” you can become, and the more you can use that mindfulness to make correct decisions at the poker table.

Late stage S&Gs, selective memories, and mindfulness

2006-05-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

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Quote of the day: “some people would have trouble folding a napkin, let alone a poker hand” underdawg7 on Paradise Poker

A friend of mine who plays mostly 10-player Sit-and-Go tournaments (S&Gs) online sent me an email that he is having frustrations. He claims that late in tourneys with fairly large sized blinds, he is pushing with AK following a limper and getting called by 33 and 44. He was questioning the benefit of the raise, since they call him and he is slightly less than 50% to win. I asked what I felt was a logical question, whether he was making the same raise with 88, and he said that he was and that he always got called by AJ. So how could he possibly be winning in the long run by making these raises? Well, the answer is very simple, but his logic is distracted by selective memory. Selective memories are abundant in the poker world, because the negatives moments in poker produce far stronger emotions than the positives.

Before going on to an analysis of this all-in move with AK, I thought this was a good time to introduce a Zen concept which I will talk about more in later posts. Once you begin to have some good poker ideas (which you will continue to enhance by using learning tools), I feel this is the most important concept in all of poker. It is the concept of mindfulness. Mindfulness is being in the moment, totally and completely aware of our surroundings and situation. It may be easiest to understand this concept by looking at its antithesis, mindlessness. We refer to someone as being in a mindless state when they are doing several tasks at once or even just one task in a very automatic way. Meanwhile, their mind is never fully involved in any of the tasks they are performing. For instance, someone might pet her cat, watch a television show, talk on the phone, and cook dinner all at one time. Yet, she does not notice the pattern of the bubbles in the stew, she doesn’t actually feel all of the textures of her cat, she misses out on the subtlest joke on the TV show, and she misinterprets what her friend was trying to say on the phone. This is all because she is not truly mindful of any of the single things she is doing. This can also happen when doing only one task at a time yet not being mindful of that task, but rather being distracted with other thoughts. Distractions are anything that does not directly apply to the task at hand. Most of these distractions are either from our external surroundings or from our thoughts, thoughts of things that happened in the past or worries for the future. These past and future thoughts serve no purpose to enhance our present moment, and can only be distractions. The distractions serve no positive purpose to our task, and can only be negative. At the same time, while involved in our present task, we can do nothing to change the past or prepare for the future. So our task and our distractions are completely at odds with each other. The only way to reach a mindful state is to eliminate the distractions from our mind. This is not easy to do, and is part of the reason many people use meditation, to practice ridding themselves of distractions and focus on the moment.

In a poker game, distractions are all around us. Many of them are emotional distractions, from bad beats, disagreements with someone at the table, or downright frustration of not winning a hand or a tournament for an extended period of time. Many other distractions come from our surroundings, people talking at the table, people playing slowly, dealer distractions, cocktail waitresses; or on the internet any of the distractions at home, like other people at the house, television, telephone, etc. Still other distractions come from regrets of the past or worries of the future, whether a past poker hand,, a financial worry, time concern, or just the fear of losing another poker tournament and how your peers will view you.

One of the problems with S&Gs is that they are full of mindless plays. That is also what makes it so easy to play several of them at a time online, because they lend themselves to mindlessness better than any other form of poker. So, while we could just elect to push our AK because we are programmed to do so, let’s instead get into our mindful state and analyze this situation, with no distractions.

But let’s do it tomorrow, ‘cause I was out at a poker game all night and right now I am distracted by being very, very tired.

Getting more out of poker books and other learning tools

2006-05-25T03:18:00.000-07:00

Quote of the day: "Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win" Bobby Knight

The new Sklansky/Miller book on No Limit Hold’em is ready for shipping, according to 2+2 Publishing. They were brought to Vegas bookstores yesterday and should be around the country shortly (not sure about Canada). This is the most anticipated poker book release I can remember. I’m interested to get my hands on it and read Sklansky’s theories, as they are always thought provoking and usually provide some good ideas for practical use to mid/low level games.

I think that poker books are a great learning tool, but should not be elevated to any status above “learning tool.” While there are a few fundamental “rules” that are stone-cold necessities to succeed in poker like playing less hands in early position than in late, most stuff that is written should be looked at simply as “ideas” and should enhance your thought process. The ones that are more rule-like in nature can and should be reinforced as often as possible regardless of experience. I’ve read a hundred or so articles that basically repeat the idea of playing tighter from early position and looser from late, and I’ll probably read a hundred more and continue to benefit from them. It is a practice well described in Edward Thorndike’s Laws of Learning under both the Law of Exercise and Law of Recency.

You should use all the leaning tools you can to get “ideas” about the game. Learning tools consist of books, articles, videos, software, discussions on hands, watching other players, and sometimes even mentoring or coaching from another player or professional. You get ideas and alternatives that you can take away and analyze and see if they fit for your particular style of game. Poker is a game that can only be learned in stages. You learn a little bit, and then get some experience playing. It is much more like learning art or creative writing in school than it is to learning something like history or math. You cannot absorb things like a sponge and spill out facts when needed. You must be able to analyze, interpret, and respond at the poker table.

All this takes time, and most people are impatient. Impatient people will continue to fail at poker. I see sponges all the time at in the 1-2 and 2-5 cash games and small buy-in tournaments. People are using plays they see on TV, but using them for the wrong reasons and at the wrong times. They don’t have the ability to recognize why what Gus Hansen does at a WPT final table doesn’t work in most other situations. And they get frustrated. They know you should be aggressive in Hold’em, but they don’t understand how to apply that aggression properly and when to take the foot off the gas. These players are basically trying to learn calculus without first mastering addition and subtraction.

There are games that lend themselves to more sponge-like play, games like full handed high-low Omaha and high-low stud. I’m not putting down anyone who succeeds at those games, because there is some creativity to them and they require an extreme amount of patience. In addition, most players that win in those games also have the skills to beat other games. Even limit Hold’em or no-limit full ring cash games at lower levels can lend itself to robotic play that can show a profit, even if it is not the most profitable way to play them.

I look at my game 2 years ago and see that I have improved significantly through incorporating ideas from others, and my game two years ago was a significant improvement over 2 years before that. Every month new ideas or new ways to look at situations come to my attention by speaking to other people or by reading or analyzing hands.

Books are full of ideas but there can be as many books as there are players in this world. If I wrote a book, it would the book that would help me to play best in my style and experience. If someone else read it, I would think they would get some good ideas to implement into their game, and also see some things that may not work well for them, but it certainly wouldn’t be the book that would give them all the answers for their game. One thing to realize as readers is that some ideas presented in books are too simple for our particular game, others are too advanced. Still others are not right for our style of game. Some are ideas we already know about but need to be reinforced, like the example about playing in position.

Ironically, I think that poker books are toughest on new players. This is partly shown by the Law of Primacy, which states that those things learned first are most often remembered, and many newer players fail because they get bad information in the beginning. This is not only from books, but also from watching bad players play and even watching the WPT final tables where the play is broadcast “out of context” and gives players very bad ideas on how to beat the games that they will actually be playing in. Because they read something in print or see a move in a game by someone who they feel is better than them, they think it is right, while it may not be right or may not be right for them and their game. I think newer players are better off getting a mentor and following some advice, including advice on a reading list and a list of what not to read. Experienced players should be good enough to read anything about poker and disregard the nonsense. I am yet to read a book where I didn’t learn something. There is always an idea that triggers to me, even if it is not exactly the idea the author intended, or if it is simply something that I think is wrong, but I learn that many other people think it is right and will be using it in their game—now that is useful information.

Poker books should teach us to think, not to simply absorb. Just as an example, I think the Harrington books are very good. But if I here the guy across the table talking about them as if they are the end-all to poker, then I know he will constantly make plays as presented in those books, sometimes at the wrong time, and while some plays may not have a good defense, the style as a whole has counter strategies if you know that is exactly how the person is playing. If you don’t recognize this, he will probably show a nice profit playing this style. But any good poker strategy has a profitable counter strategy; that’s the nature of the game. It’s just that the better players recognize counter strategies and come up with a counter-counter strategy to stay ahead. For example, Harrington reacts to situations; it wouldn’t take him long to recognize that someone is using these counter strategies and he would mix up his style to something more profitable in the situation. He tries to teach thinking in the books, not an exact system. Systems don’t work in poker. The Kill Phil book/system is interesting and well worth a read and has some ideas to take away from it, but even the authors admit it is a system that against good players, is just designed to lessen the good player’s advantage over you as an inferior opposition, given that the good player wants to play a lot of smaller pots post-flop. If sponge-like systems were flawless, computers and robotic strategies would already dominate the game. While I think you could build a computer program to beat low-limit games for a small rate, those computers would not be more profitable than the better players at those games.

So take the new Sklansky/Miller book and learn some new ideas from it, but don’t try to be a sponge and absorb everything at once to come up with a set of rules by which to play poker. In the long run, poker is far too an artistic game for that.

Barry Greenstein

2006-05-23T06:24:00.000-07:00

Quote of the day: “There’s no substitute to having the best hand” Barry Greenstein

I really admire this guy, and I think he combines his own level of Zen and poker in a unique way.

From a poker standpoint, he just seems to be the consummate professional. He has amassed practically his entire fortune by playing cards. He gives off the impression of someone who has seen it all at a poker table. He seems to always be in tune with the moment, with what is going on at the table; he exemplifies a Zen nature in his game. He reads tables well and adjusts to them. He knows when to get away from a hand and recognizes when someone is getting out of line with their betting. When others want to constantly drive the action, he seems to play tight and conservative and wait for an opportunity to let them overplay their hand. When the table is tight and afraid, he raises pots relentlessly. He seems to be able to recognize and take advantage of what the table is offering at a given time; that is the mark of a great player.

From a humanitarian view, I admire his generosity to less fortunate children of this world. Many people who have made good money in life do not give back to others. But he is grounded enough to recognize that he has been fortunate in life, and has made the effort to share some of his fortune with others.

You can check out some stuff about Barry on his website. The site contains some very interesting analyses of other players as well as some great tunes. He also has an interesting book called Ace on the River, which is less of a strategy book on poker (although there is some very good strategy hands at the end of the book), and more of a series of essays about some of the various social aspects you will encounter if you become heavily involved in the live poker scene.

Overcoming bad beats

2006-05-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

We all know about bad beats. But why exactly are they so difficult to endure? Perhaps the answer lies in our “expectation.”

The Zen-Buddhist will tell you that expectations produce a negative effect. For instance, he separates happiness from pleasure. He describes happiness as something that comes from within. And that if you rely on or expect pleasure in order for you to be happy during the day, then some days you will be happy and some days you will not be. If you look inside yourself for happiness, you will be happy each day. It doesn’t mean that you don’t still enjoy the pleasures on the days that are filled with them, but on the days when pleasurable things don’t happen, you are still happy. You are not expecting pleasure to come at all times to make you happy. Notice that while the pleasurable thing actually happening can produce a positive effect, the expectation of it can only produce a negative.

It seems to reason that in poker, if we can get rid of the expectation, even to some degree, then we can get rid of some of the frustrations and correlating “tilt” that is produced from bad beats. It will not stop the bad beats themselves, but it can stop you from emotionally calling a raise from the big blind with 48o on the hand that follows a bad beat, or stop you from pushing all your chips in with QT when it is not the correct play. It can stop you from breaking your mouse or berating a dealer who has done nothing wrong. And it can help you to feel less frustrated.

For example, you are at the final table of a multi table tournament; 8 players are left. Someone raises and you look down and see AK. You analyze the situation and decide to push all-in. Your opponent calls. More than half your stack is in the pot. If you win the hand, you will be chip leader. If you lose, you will be the smallest stack remaining. Do you expect to win this hand with your AK? If I told you that you lost the hand, would you lose your emotional control? Or would you be able to put it aside and move on to the next hand and make the best decision possible for that hand? Or would it depend on whether you considered it a bad beat or a bad call by your opponent? Is there anything positive to gain (aside from the knowledge of what your opponent may call with) by knowing your opponent’s hole cards, and whether or not you should have expected to win that hand?

Without knowing your opponent’s hole cards, you most likely you wouldn’t go crazy and although you may be somewhat disappointed, you would focus on the next hand and try to play it properly in order to give yourself the best chance to win the tournament. After all, why be upset, your opponent may have beaten you with AA or KK; you never saw the hand, so you don’t know. And AK is at best a coin flip against any pair. While you wouldn’t have been surprised if you had found out you won, you are also not surprised to find out you lost. You really didn’t have much expectation one way or the other when you got called.

But in the real world of poker, instead of simply finding out if you won or lost, there is always drama. Let’s say your opponent flips over AQ. Now your expectations are high. You see chips coming your way. You watch the board flop K44, a perfect flop, and your expectations soar to the potential first place prize money! Then the turn is a Ten, and the river a Jack, giving your opponent a straight. You are devastated, and your expectations of winning have caused this negative effect. Perhaps you are the type to break your mouse, or to berate the dealer in a live game or the other player. Or maybe you keep it inside you and later on start an argument with your girlfriend over something stupid. And more importantly in a poker-sense, you play the next few hands quite irrationally and blow any chance to get back into the tournament.

So how can we accomplish our goal of not expecting at the poker table? Surely there are things we can do to lower our expectation without spending years as a Buddhist monk. The first thought is to not look at our opponent’s cards or the cards on the board after the action is complete. This is easier to do on the internet than it is in live games by simply covering the screen. But there are problems associated with this. One negative is that we miss out on some information as to what our opponent is willing to call with. Another is that there is a certain expectation with a given hand even without seeing our opponent’s cards. Certainly, if we hold AA we are expecting to win. Thirdly, it is really just an artificial way to get around the problem and not very practical. Nonetheless, for people who are really struggling with tilt or frustration issues, I would suggest trying out this method next time you are all-in with a hand like AK. It can be sort of a training exercise that will help you to ease your expectations.

So what else can we do? We can start with education. Educate yourself on the odds. Look over some odds charts or play around with an odds calculator. Most of us overestimate our chances of winning a hand. Especially non-paired holdings. We tend to think that a non-paired favorite should lose only rarely, while the truth is that a non-paired favorite is never that big a favorite and we should feel fortunate if it does indeed win. As for a pair over pair or a pair over two under-cards, these are heavy favorites, but we also put unreasonable expectations on them. We expect them to win every time, and that’s far too great of an expectation.

Educate yourself on how to apply the odds to a reasonable expectation. Most people don’t realize that if we go in as a 70% favorite two hands in a row, we are going to lose one of those hands more than half the time. Compare the odds to something you are familiar with in the non-poker-world. For example, I often apply odds to baseball stats since I grew up with baseball. Let’s say a guy has been bullying the table near bubble time and goes all-in on my big blind. I have AK and decide to take a stand and call and hope to double up. He shows 97o. I’m happy I made the call, because the bubble money lost if I lose means little to me, and a double through puts me in good position to make a run at winning the tournament. Yet, I know he has about a 35% chance to beat me. I know that taking 65% the better of things will mean a lot of money to me in the long run, but his 35% chance to win this hand basically corresponds to the chances of a batting champion getting a base hit. And those guys get a lot of hits. So I don’t have unrealistic expectations at winning this pot. My decision time in the hand is over. Either I will win and be faced with a new situation next hand, or I will lose and find another game or something else to do.

That brings us to another point that can help; putting things in perspective. What does it really mean if you lose? What does it mean if the other guy sucks out on the river? Is your life going to change greatly whether you win or lose this pot? Aren’t you still going to get up in the morning and go to work either way? Win or lose the hand, not much is changing in our life because of it. This perspective helps to alleviate the fears that go along with over-expectation.

So the real question is, is there really any benefit at all to our expectation of winning a particular hand after all the action is complete? It seems that these “expectations” can only produce negative effects. Above and beyond the ideas discussed, there certainly are ways for you to lessen the negative effects of expectation, but perhaps each individual is best to figure out those ways for him/herself.

Well, those are my ideas on bad beats at the moment. If anybody reads this, all comments/questions are welcomed.

Enjoy your day!

First post

2006-05-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

I’m pretty new to the whole blogging thing. It seems I’m always the last to know about what is trendy, and although I don’t go for trends for trends-sake, bloggers seem to have so much fun that I thought I might try to join in.

I’m not exactly sure of the direction I plan to go with this, but I intend that it will be directed toward poker with a bit of a Zen-like nature about it, hence the name Zen and Poker. I hope that it will bring me some pleasurable times and that a few people may read it and find something that will enhance their life and/or poker game.

Okay, so maybe there is a direction.