Two months have passed since Vegas - what have I been up to pokerwise?
Well, firstly, out in Vegas I came 11th in the Crypto second chance freeroll, winning $2,000. This annoyed me as I was 2nd in chips with 12 left when I got knocked out by Bengt Sonnert, one of the sponsored pros. It's folded to him in the SB and he raises. I have A7 and re-raise, which he responds to with an all-in.
Now, unless he has AA I have three outs and am 30% to win the hand (and, obviously, 70% to lose and get knocked out). With the stack sizes as they were, I was just about getting the odds to call, but it's my tournament life on the line. Should I call or fold?
I opted to call, mainly because of the win/loss of the outcomes. Lose and I get $2,000. Win and I go to the final table with a third of the chips in play, having knocked out the most dangerous player and have a great chance of winning $50,000. Of course the 70% won out and I was gone.
However, I was annoyed to subsequently discover that Bengt, as one of the sponsored pros, wasn't supposed to win, and was told this when it got heads-up. Thus he played very passively and deliberately dribbled away chips to a guy who was a spectacularly easy player to read (even I picked him and I'm rubbish at spotting tells) who was someone that lucked out on me earlier by rivering me when I caught him stealing. Grrr - it's not as if I couldn't have done with $50,000.
Anyway, since Vegas there has been very little poker because of a) going on holiday to Ireland and, more importantly, b) moving flat, meaning I spent three weeks without broadband.
My re-emergence into the online poker world has been mixed. It started well with my best ever performance in the Sunday £50,000 on Crypto (16th for £500). No real hands of interest, apart from my timely double-up late on when I did an all-in resteal when someone raised my BB. He had AK. I had J8 and flopped two pair - I got abuse for that :)
Played quite a bit of cash over the weekend and managed to lose a chunk. One player caught me for two buy-ins. The first was when I pushed all-in on the flop with a flush and straight draw when he had top set (OK, fair enough). Then, a couple of hands later I'd raised with 88, he'd called and we saw a flop of 875. I pushed all-in and he called and I was ready to welcome my money back, only for him to reveal 64 for the flopped straight.
My biggest win of the weekend was also the most spectacularly badly played hand of my life. UTG+1 with AA, player before me raises to £7 (this is at a £1/£2 table). Instead of raising I called, because I'd recently not been getting any action on my big hands, and the later players had shown signs of pre-flop aggression. Of course three more called and I saw a five-way flop out of position with AA :)
The flop was a nightmare - 776 with two clubs. Players call raises with all sorts of hands that fit that - sets, flush and straight draws, completely ugly. There's some checks, then a bet, then a call. Then, for some reason which I can't completely fathom, I called the £18 as well. Frustration can be my only defence - I'd worked so hard for AA I was loathe to fold them. There is then a raise to £80, from a player with more than £110 behind. The original bettor and caller folded and it's back to me. The probability I am ahead here is almost precisely zero. So, obviously, I go all-in and he calls with his full house and pocket sixes. Turn blank, river Ace. Ship me that monkey!! The shame at my win was tempered by the £500 in front of me.
I think I finished down about £250 in all, then went about halfway in the £50K. Nevertheless, it was good to get a good 8 hour session in.
The poker world is going apeshit today over the US Senate's decision to ban Americans from funding their online gaming accounts. Whilst it will be a shame to lose the American fish, it won't affect me as much as other Europeans. As I have a job, I can't stay up all night playing Yanks, so I mostly play against Europeans. Also, if Party and Pokerstars kick out the septics, maybe they'll move their big tournaments to earlier in the day so they don't finish at 6am UK time.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
WSOP - Day Two
Day two arrives, and I sit at my table opposite Allen Cunningham's mound of chips. Level one was pretty quiet - I dribbled down from 53,000 to 46,000 without really playing a hand. Early on I raised with AK UTG, only to get a re-raiser two to my left who had raised to a third of his 18,000 stack. It was a push or fold decision, and I didn't fancy risking over a third of my chips on a race at best, so I folded.
The table was a lot tougher than day one's - more raising and re-raising, fewer flops seen. I was possibly a bit too timid and should have bullied a bit more, but I wasn't getting any good hands and so had to fold to re-raises.
I found AQ and raised. Allen Cunningham called from the big blind. The flop was JT5. He checked. I should have made a continuation bet but I chickened out, probably because I was up against Allen. The turn was a 9 and Allen bet 3,500 into the pot of 5,000. The nine had given me an up-and-down straight draw. Before I'd realised it (or given it proper thought), I'd semi-bluff re-raised to 12,000. Allen then had a think. A think for what seemed like an eternity and a half, but which Cardplayer said was only two minutes. I was a statue throughout (at least I assumed I was). I've noticed in the past that when people have long thinks at the table, they usually fold at the end of it, so the longer Allen sat there, the more confident I felt. However, after his pondering, Allen went all-in. It would have been idiotic of me to call so I pretended to consider things for a little while before folding.
Did he pick up on something which led him to believe I was bluffing? Did he have a great hand and was trying to lure me in? After analysing the hand afterwards, I think that Allen would have put me on either AK or AQ, with my actual holding the favourite. 14,000 chips down the pan.
More chips went when I raised with 66 and got a caller, we checked the flop, then I represented the Ace on the turn, which he called. The river was a Jack, which I checked, and he checked behind. He only had KJ and had called with a flush draw but hit a winning hand on the end. However, he wasn't to know that and a river bet from me may well have won the hand.
I recovered some lost ground when a shortstack BB re-raised me all-in when I raised with 22 from the button. I knew he was trying to push me off the hand so I called, and my ducks held up against his QJ.
I went into dinner with 32,000 chips. I'd slipped below average and had my chance to double up about 20 minutes into the next level. I raised to 4,000 with 99 and Allen went all-in on the BB with his huge stack. Two things made me sure I had the best hand. Firstly, he'd seen me lay hands down before. Secondly, Allen had the run of the table as he had become the overwhelming big stack after an Aussie had donked off about 70,000 chips to him just before the break. However, the Aussie's seat had just been taken by a guy with a quarter of a million chips and I think Allen wanted to send a message to him.
Given all this, I immediately called and Allen turned over KQ, so I was about a 55% favourite. However, Queens fell on the flop, turn and river to give Allen four of a kind and end my WSOP adventure.
I wasn't too disappointed with things. As I've said before, I'm never too bothered when I go out with the best hand, only with my own mistakes. If I'd won that hand, I'd have had 65,000 and would surely have made the money in the world championship event. Still, it wasn't to be.
Today, I played a couple of very funny sit'n'gos in the Crypto lounge with Cupcake, Yoyo and others. In the first, I just kept hitting straights on the river - I've never known such luck before. In the second, buoyed by my fortune, I'd started played hands without looking at them, which is a lot of fun. And I don't mean just raising pre-flop without looking but limping, betting flops and calling turn raises in the dark. I can see how it drives other players mental.
I then spent a couple of hours in the Voodoo lounge at the top of the Rio with Monkey Matt and BigArno. Yes the view is spectacular but it is just a poncey bar with badly dressed Americans and overly expensive drinks. Plus they don't seem to let you sit down anywhere - all the seats are roped off, verboten unless you've booked them (and this committed to spending lots on drinks). Am I just getting old?
The table was a lot tougher than day one's - more raising and re-raising, fewer flops seen. I was possibly a bit too timid and should have bullied a bit more, but I wasn't getting any good hands and so had to fold to re-raises.
I found AQ and raised. Allen Cunningham called from the big blind. The flop was JT5. He checked. I should have made a continuation bet but I chickened out, probably because I was up against Allen. The turn was a 9 and Allen bet 3,500 into the pot of 5,000. The nine had given me an up-and-down straight draw. Before I'd realised it (or given it proper thought), I'd semi-bluff re-raised to 12,000. Allen then had a think. A think for what seemed like an eternity and a half, but which Cardplayer said was only two minutes. I was a statue throughout (at least I assumed I was). I've noticed in the past that when people have long thinks at the table, they usually fold at the end of it, so the longer Allen sat there, the more confident I felt. However, after his pondering, Allen went all-in. It would have been idiotic of me to call so I pretended to consider things for a little while before folding.
Did he pick up on something which led him to believe I was bluffing? Did he have a great hand and was trying to lure me in? After analysing the hand afterwards, I think that Allen would have put me on either AK or AQ, with my actual holding the favourite. 14,000 chips down the pan.
More chips went when I raised with 66 and got a caller, we checked the flop, then I represented the Ace on the turn, which he called. The river was a Jack, which I checked, and he checked behind. He only had KJ and had called with a flush draw but hit a winning hand on the end. However, he wasn't to know that and a river bet from me may well have won the hand.
I recovered some lost ground when a shortstack BB re-raised me all-in when I raised with 22 from the button. I knew he was trying to push me off the hand so I called, and my ducks held up against his QJ.
I went into dinner with 32,000 chips. I'd slipped below average and had my chance to double up about 20 minutes into the next level. I raised to 4,000 with 99 and Allen went all-in on the BB with his huge stack. Two things made me sure I had the best hand. Firstly, he'd seen me lay hands down before. Secondly, Allen had the run of the table as he had become the overwhelming big stack after an Aussie had donked off about 70,000 chips to him just before the break. However, the Aussie's seat had just been taken by a guy with a quarter of a million chips and I think Allen wanted to send a message to him.
Given all this, I immediately called and Allen turned over KQ, so I was about a 55% favourite. However, Queens fell on the flop, turn and river to give Allen four of a kind and end my WSOP adventure.
I wasn't too disappointed with things. As I've said before, I'm never too bothered when I go out with the best hand, only with my own mistakes. If I'd won that hand, I'd have had 65,000 and would surely have made the money in the world championship event. Still, it wasn't to be.
Today, I played a couple of very funny sit'n'gos in the Crypto lounge with Cupcake, Yoyo and others. In the first, I just kept hitting straights on the river - I've never known such luck before. In the second, buoyed by my fortune, I'd started played hands without looking at them, which is a lot of fun. And I don't mean just raising pre-flop without looking but limping, betting flops and calling turn raises in the dark. I can see how it drives other players mental.
I then spent a couple of hours in the Voodoo lounge at the top of the Rio with Monkey Matt and BigArno. Yes the view is spectacular but it is just a poncey bar with badly dressed Americans and overly expensive drinks. Plus they don't seem to let you sit down anywhere - all the seats are roped off, verboten unless you've booked them (and this committed to spending lots on drinks). Am I just getting old?
Monday, July 31, 2006
WSOP - Day 1B
The big day arrived - Day 1B. After getting past the scrum to get in I found my seat. Good news - I didn't recognise any of my opponents. After we got going I settled in nicely. I wasn't getting any cards but every now and then I'd raise and grab some blinds. The first half of the day (six hours) passed by mostly uneventfully. I was able to slightly increase my stack but, more importantly, avoid any big drops. Also, I'd not seen anything to worry me from the other players at the table - only one of them was in any way tricky (raising with crap and bluffing), the others were all classic weak-tight apart from a couple of looser calling stations.
After the dinner break (and a hearty curry) things picked up for me. I called a raise from the guy immediately on my right with J9. The flop came JJ2 and he check-called my bet. The blank turn went check check and another rag on the river saw him check-call my bet, even saying 'there's no way you have the best hand' before calling.
Before I describe my big hand of the day, let me set the context. Earlier I'd seen a hand which went like this. Some guy raised. Rocky McGranite called. Then an old guy raised from the button. Original raiser called. Now the rock raises! Both opponents called the raise. Flop is king-four-rag. It's checked to the old guy on the button who bets. The original raiser folds and the rock goes all-in. He must have a massive hand. The old guy calls with his pair of tens! The rock, far from having the AA or KK I thought he would have, had 44 for a set. Turn was a blank and the river was a ten, making the old guy his bigger set.
OK, my big hand. I raise with JJ and it's folded to the old guy on the button, who re-raises. Not only had I seen him do this with TT before, but I'd also seen him limp with AA from the button. I therefore thought there was a fair chance he had a good, but not great hand. There was enough in the pot for me to want it now so, after quite a long think, I went all-in. He immediately called and I prayed for AK, as I thought it was the only possible hand I could be ahead of. 'I think your pair is bigger than mine', he said. 'No it's not' I replied as I tabled my hand. He flipped over 88 and I was ecstatic. The board brought four clubs which actually made my flush and I'd doubled up. Finally, my WSOP had got going.
My second big hand was against a woman who had got moved to our table. Twice she'd raised my blind from quite early position. Twice I'd reraised with AK and AJ and made her fold. The third time she made this raise I re-raised from the button with QQ and she called. The flop was three rags and she checked to me. I checked behind, feeling confident I was ahead (I'm sure she'd have re-popped me with KK or AA). I wanted her to think I had an AK or AQ-type hand. Turn was another rag and she bet. I flat called. Another rag came on the river and she bet once more. Again I called (no point raising - only a hand that beats me calls) and she showed TT. I think her river bet was pretty poor - what hand that she was beating would call? If she thinks I have AK then let me bluff at the pot.
The third major pot of the day was one in which I actually made an error. A fairly tight player raised from mid-position on my big blind. I find my second AA of the day (the first only won some blinds) so I re-raise. I didn't put too much thought into the size of the bet, I just made a standard re-raise amount. He called. We checked an all rag board to the river. Not betting on either the flop or turn was a mistake on my part. When it came to the river he had about 8,000 chips left. He called my bet of 4,000, which was the biggest callable amount I thought I could bet. A bigger re-raise pre-flop, or an intermediate bet on flop or turn, would have meant I could have got all his chips. This was 4,000 chips I missed out on.
I went into the last level of the day with about 37,000 chips and my plan was to protect that stack for Day 2. However, I managed to gently increase it to 53,425 by the close without taking any risks, simply through blind stealing and taking a couple of pots away. After bagging up at the end I moved to my table for Day 2 and found myself one of only three stacks above 24,000. Allen Cunningham is at the other end of the table with 77,000 and there's a 43,000 on the table as well. As long as I stay out of Allen's way I should be able to have a good day, provided my big hands hold up.
I'm actually feeling a bit nervous now for the first time. I had no nerves at all before or through Day 1 as it was all just a big adventure - I had nothing to lose. Now I do - I'm in a good position and have the chance to blow it. Obviously I hope I don't.
After the dinner break (and a hearty curry) things picked up for me. I called a raise from the guy immediately on my right with J9. The flop came JJ2 and he check-called my bet. The blank turn went check check and another rag on the river saw him check-call my bet, even saying 'there's no way you have the best hand' before calling.
Before I describe my big hand of the day, let me set the context. Earlier I'd seen a hand which went like this. Some guy raised. Rocky McGranite called. Then an old guy raised from the button. Original raiser called. Now the rock raises! Both opponents called the raise. Flop is king-four-rag. It's checked to the old guy on the button who bets. The original raiser folds and the rock goes all-in. He must have a massive hand. The old guy calls with his pair of tens! The rock, far from having the AA or KK I thought he would have, had 44 for a set. Turn was a blank and the river was a ten, making the old guy his bigger set.
OK, my big hand. I raise with JJ and it's folded to the old guy on the button, who re-raises. Not only had I seen him do this with TT before, but I'd also seen him limp with AA from the button. I therefore thought there was a fair chance he had a good, but not great hand. There was enough in the pot for me to want it now so, after quite a long think, I went all-in. He immediately called and I prayed for AK, as I thought it was the only possible hand I could be ahead of. 'I think your pair is bigger than mine', he said. 'No it's not' I replied as I tabled my hand. He flipped over 88 and I was ecstatic. The board brought four clubs which actually made my flush and I'd doubled up. Finally, my WSOP had got going.
My second big hand was against a woman who had got moved to our table. Twice she'd raised my blind from quite early position. Twice I'd reraised with AK and AJ and made her fold. The third time she made this raise I re-raised from the button with QQ and she called. The flop was three rags and she checked to me. I checked behind, feeling confident I was ahead (I'm sure she'd have re-popped me with KK or AA). I wanted her to think I had an AK or AQ-type hand. Turn was another rag and she bet. I flat called. Another rag came on the river and she bet once more. Again I called (no point raising - only a hand that beats me calls) and she showed TT. I think her river bet was pretty poor - what hand that she was beating would call? If she thinks I have AK then let me bluff at the pot.
The third major pot of the day was one in which I actually made an error. A fairly tight player raised from mid-position on my big blind. I find my second AA of the day (the first only won some blinds) so I re-raise. I didn't put too much thought into the size of the bet, I just made a standard re-raise amount. He called. We checked an all rag board to the river. Not betting on either the flop or turn was a mistake on my part. When it came to the river he had about 8,000 chips left. He called my bet of 4,000, which was the biggest callable amount I thought I could bet. A bigger re-raise pre-flop, or an intermediate bet on flop or turn, would have meant I could have got all his chips. This was 4,000 chips I missed out on.
I went into the last level of the day with about 37,000 chips and my plan was to protect that stack for Day 2. However, I managed to gently increase it to 53,425 by the close without taking any risks, simply through blind stealing and taking a couple of pots away. After bagging up at the end I moved to my table for Day 2 and found myself one of only three stacks above 24,000. Allen Cunningham is at the other end of the table with 77,000 and there's a 43,000 on the table as well. As long as I stay out of Allen's way I should be able to have a good day, provided my big hands hold up.
I'm actually feeling a bit nervous now for the first time. I had no nerves at all before or through Day 1 as it was all just a big adventure - I had nothing to lose. Now I do - I'm in a good position and have the chance to blow it. Obviously I hope I don't.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Vegas - Day One
So, I'm finally here in Las Vegas, typing in my suite at the Rio, which is only slightly smaller than my entire flat in London.
Tomorrow is my day in the WSOP main event, so today I'm just familiarising myself with the Rio. Unsurprisingly, it took me less than two minutes after I checked in for me to get lost in the place - it's just huge.
Went to the Crypto pre-WSOP party last night and met up with Cupcake, Yoyo and the other William Hill people. Luckily I'd managed to grab a couple of hours sleep beforehand so I was able to have a few drinks without dozing off.
This is my first time in the US and I have been struck by just how crappy the US TV channels are. For some reason, every advert break contains one about prostrate problems. Also, the news channels have an overwhelming pro-Israeli bias in their reporting of the Middle East - they keep taking the same angle that their dimwit President does, namely that Hezbollah is the cause of the trouble, rather than the symptom that it is (with the Palestinian problem being the actual cause).
I've discovered that, sadly, the Starbucks here do not have the sausage and egg panini that I so enjoy. Also, for some reason the charger for my phone doesn't work, even though the one for my laptop does. And I've also learnt that if I want a whisky, I'd better not ask for a whisky, because I'll get crappy bourbon. I must remember to ask for scotch instead.
I'm off to dip my toe in some actual poker somewhere - staying away from the WSOP today as it's bedlam down there at the moment.
Tomorrow is my day in the WSOP main event, so today I'm just familiarising myself with the Rio. Unsurprisingly, it took me less than two minutes after I checked in for me to get lost in the place - it's just huge.
Went to the Crypto pre-WSOP party last night and met up with Cupcake, Yoyo and the other William Hill people. Luckily I'd managed to grab a couple of hours sleep beforehand so I was able to have a few drinks without dozing off.
This is my first time in the US and I have been struck by just how crappy the US TV channels are. For some reason, every advert break contains one about prostrate problems. Also, the news channels have an overwhelming pro-Israeli bias in their reporting of the Middle East - they keep taking the same angle that their dimwit President does, namely that Hezbollah is the cause of the trouble, rather than the symptom that it is (with the Palestinian problem being the actual cause).
I've discovered that, sadly, the Starbucks here do not have the sausage and egg panini that I so enjoy. Also, for some reason the charger for my phone doesn't work, even though the one for my laptop does. And I've also learnt that if I want a whisky, I'd better not ask for a whisky, because I'll get crappy bourbon. I must remember to ask for scotch instead.
I'm off to dip my toe in some actual poker somewhere - staying away from the WSOP today as it's bedlam down there at the moment.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Twas the week before Vegas...
My quest to get in live practice before Vegas has cost me over £450 and not really a sniff of a draw. I came 8th in the Sportsman's £40 freezeout yesterday - started well but the tourney got crapshooty quite quickly (1500 chips and a 20 minute clock starting at 25/50) and I found no hands once it became a blind stealing comp (so I never had enough chips to make a raiser pass).
I did venture down for the £100 rebuy a couple of Fridays ago - here's the report I wrote for Blondepoker.
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Vegas is not long away, so live practice is required. To this end I made my way down to the Sportsman Casino in Marble Arch for the Friday £100 Rebuy. Strictly speaking, this would be outside my bankroll if it turned into a 'Billy Deep Pockets' contest, so I wanted a nice passive table which would play 'proper' poker during the rebuy period. Oh look, there's multi-millionaire Sir Clive Sinclair at the end of my table. And who is this sitting in the seat directly to my right? Why, it's a WSOP bracelet holder. D'oh.
So, the 90 minutes of the rebuy period passed by with the Mini-Bike Knight and the Bracelet Holder seemingly take turns to go all-in with any old crap, which didn't leave much chance for me to pick a spot with the cavalcade of rubbish I was being dealt. I took a chance with a hand where I got dealt QQ. I thought that, having sat there and folded everything for an hour, a raise from me would ring too many alarm bells, so I limped behind a couple of others, waiting for Sir Clive to push all his chips in the middle (as had become the custom). Sadly, he did not oblige and about 20 of us saw an 833 flop. Of course, I'd let the big blind see a free flop with 63 so I had to blow the cobwebs off my wallet.
Time passed by. I made more folds than an origami champion. No playable hands or playable positions presented themselves. I vowed never to play rebuys again. On the final hand of the rebuy period I found myself UTG. I had 1200 chips and after the break blinds would be 200/400. I'd decided I was going all-in no matter what I was dealt as I wasn't paying another £100 for 3BB. A5 was good enough. Sir Clive duly looked me up with 65. What a result - a handy double up is coming my way. That'll give me a chance after the bre...what's that? A six on the river? That's be the end of my night then.
Highlight of the evening occured earlier, though, at 50/100. The Bracelet Holder had raised pre-flop. He threw three chips out - two 100 (yellow) and one 500 (white). "No, no, no - I only wanted to raise to 300", he says. The bet of 700 stood. It's folded round to a guy who goes all-in with pocket nines. The Bracelet Holder immediately calls with pocket aces. Genuine mistake, or brilliant moody? Mr Pocket Nines was not happy. The Bracelet Holder was all innocence - 'why would I raise 7BB - I wanted a call?'. The rest of us chuckled to ourselves, marvelling at the mastery of the game we'd just witnessed.
Unethical? Unfair? Maybe, maybe not. It was great to watch though, as it was done with such charm. I wonder if I could get away with such a stroke in the WSOP later in the week...
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I didn't post the name of the bracelet holder on Blonde, but I suppose seeing as no one really reads this blog I can tell you it was Willie Tann.
My final proper practice for Vegas was in last night's £50K Guaranteed on Crypto, but I only lasted about 25 minutes. I raised pre-flop with AQ and got a caller behind me. I bet out on the AT2 flop, and called the reraise. A turn of 8 went check-check, and we managed to get it all-in on another offsuit rag on the river. He had A8, so made a horrible reraise on the flop, got lucky on the turn, then profited from my bad play on the river. He was a luckbox, but I didn't half help him out.
I will have my laptop in Vegas and will be doing updates for Blondepoker, as well as sticking stuff in here.
I did venture down for the £100 rebuy a couple of Fridays ago - here's the report I wrote for Blondepoker.
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Vegas is not long away, so live practice is required. To this end I made my way down to the Sportsman Casino in Marble Arch for the Friday £100 Rebuy. Strictly speaking, this would be outside my bankroll if it turned into a 'Billy Deep Pockets' contest, so I wanted a nice passive table which would play 'proper' poker during the rebuy period. Oh look, there's multi-millionaire Sir Clive Sinclair at the end of my table. And who is this sitting in the seat directly to my right? Why, it's a WSOP bracelet holder. D'oh.
So, the 90 minutes of the rebuy period passed by with the Mini-Bike Knight and the Bracelet Holder seemingly take turns to go all-in with any old crap, which didn't leave much chance for me to pick a spot with the cavalcade of rubbish I was being dealt. I took a chance with a hand where I got dealt QQ. I thought that, having sat there and folded everything for an hour, a raise from me would ring too many alarm bells, so I limped behind a couple of others, waiting for Sir Clive to push all his chips in the middle (as had become the custom). Sadly, he did not oblige and about 20 of us saw an 833 flop. Of course, I'd let the big blind see a free flop with 63 so I had to blow the cobwebs off my wallet.
Time passed by. I made more folds than an origami champion. No playable hands or playable positions presented themselves. I vowed never to play rebuys again. On the final hand of the rebuy period I found myself UTG. I had 1200 chips and after the break blinds would be 200/400. I'd decided I was going all-in no matter what I was dealt as I wasn't paying another £100 for 3BB. A5 was good enough. Sir Clive duly looked me up with 65. What a result - a handy double up is coming my way. That'll give me a chance after the bre...what's that? A six on the river? That's be the end of my night then.
Highlight of the evening occured earlier, though, at 50/100. The Bracelet Holder had raised pre-flop. He threw three chips out - two 100 (yellow) and one 500 (white). "No, no, no - I only wanted to raise to 300", he says. The bet of 700 stood. It's folded round to a guy who goes all-in with pocket nines. The Bracelet Holder immediately calls with pocket aces. Genuine mistake, or brilliant moody? Mr Pocket Nines was not happy. The Bracelet Holder was all innocence - 'why would I raise 7BB - I wanted a call?'. The rest of us chuckled to ourselves, marvelling at the mastery of the game we'd just witnessed.
Unethical? Unfair? Maybe, maybe not. It was great to watch though, as it was done with such charm. I wonder if I could get away with such a stroke in the WSOP later in the week...
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I didn't post the name of the bracelet holder on Blonde, but I suppose seeing as no one really reads this blog I can tell you it was Willie Tann.
My final proper practice for Vegas was in last night's £50K Guaranteed on Crypto, but I only lasted about 25 minutes. I raised pre-flop with AQ and got a caller behind me. I bet out on the AT2 flop, and called the reraise. A turn of 8 went check-check, and we managed to get it all-in on another offsuit rag on the river. He had A8, so made a horrible reraise on the flop, got lucky on the turn, then profited from my bad play on the river. He was a luckbox, but I didn't half help him out.
I will have my laptop in Vegas and will be doing updates for Blondepoker, as well as sticking stuff in here.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Bubble Boy (Slight Return)
The plan was to go down to the Gutshot on Saturday for the £100 freezeout. However, my mum invited me over for a barbecue for my brother's birthday so I went to that instead. On Sunday I decided that I would use that £100 to play the £50K Guaranteed on Crypto, in order to try and get a bit of practice at bigger buy-in events.
I had got myself into a very focused frame of mind and, for some strange reason, felt confident of doing well. Early on I treaded water, losing a few chips here, winning them back there - not much to talk about. Then I picked up AK in mid position. The UTG limped for 50 (which got my spidey sense tingling). The calling station next to him limped as well. I decided to raise to 150 - a small raise behind two limpers because I wanted to see if the UTG would reraise. A late position player cold-called my raise, then the UTG guy raised to 600 (as I suspected he might). The calling station also called (not too worried about him - bad player). I debated folding, but it was 450 back to me with over 1500 in the pot, plus the prospect of a 4th player calling for value. I called the raise, as did player 4.
The flop was AT5, with two hearts. The UTG player checked, as did the calling station. I also checked as I feared a check-raise from the UTG player. Then player 4 went all-in for just over the pot. UTG and calling station both folded (UTG probably having KK or QQ). Suddenly, a hand I wasn't even sure I should have been in had opened up for me. The player I'd worried about had folded and I decided there was little chance player 4 would have gone all-in with a hand that beats me (unless AT or A5) and his bet looked more like a flush draw. I called and he showed Q9 hearts. I dodged the flush and nearly tripled up.
This set me on a nice run of good cards which I made the most of and gently moved up the leaderboard. I scraped the top ten a few times and was 20-something when my table broke with 50 players left. I'd done well identifying the tight players I could steal from and the good aggressive ones who would laydown to resteals at my previous table so I was annoyed I had to start from scratch again with new players. It was particularly annoying as this new table was more aggressive than the last one and I got dealt stone cold cards. Trying a resteal would mean sticking half my stack in with nothing, so I hunkered down and folded everything.
I got dealt AT in the BB when the button (who only had 5 BB) went all-in. It was an ATC move so I called, but he hit his K7 and my stack had a dent. With the blinds where they were, any resteal would have to be all-in.
On the bubble, it's folded round to me in mid position. I have KT, the best hand I've had for ages. It's also the first time it's been folded round to me in a while, so I raise, hoping to nick the blinds but folding like a shot to a resteal. The button (chip leader of the tournament), however, flat calls.
The flop is K66 and I have a decision to make. I've hit the flop but have no idea where I am in the hand. I have an almost pathological desire to take risks on the bubble - taunting the poker gods to smite me. I think this stems from the fact I never want to be a timid player, running down the clock each hand trying to scrape into the money. I'd rather bust out trying to get some chips.
However, this hand was different. Before it started, even though I'd taken a hit, I was in no danger of bubbling by folding. It would have burst in the next few hands anyway (one player had less than a blind left). I should have cut my losses and check-folded, even if it risked folding the best hand. Instead, I decide I was playing the hand. If I went all-in, I'd only get called by a hand which was beating me, so I check-raised, hoping he'd bet an inferior hand. He did bet, albeit with the vastly superior AK, and I was out.
I was so annoyed with myself for going out with this hand. I took unnecessary risks and got punished. I'll have to cut this out in Vegas. With the extra thought time you get in a live game I'll hopefully not make decisions that I'll regret later.
I had got myself into a very focused frame of mind and, for some strange reason, felt confident of doing well. Early on I treaded water, losing a few chips here, winning them back there - not much to talk about. Then I picked up AK in mid position. The UTG limped for 50 (which got my spidey sense tingling). The calling station next to him limped as well. I decided to raise to 150 - a small raise behind two limpers because I wanted to see if the UTG would reraise. A late position player cold-called my raise, then the UTG guy raised to 600 (as I suspected he might). The calling station also called (not too worried about him - bad player). I debated folding, but it was 450 back to me with over 1500 in the pot, plus the prospect of a 4th player calling for value. I called the raise, as did player 4.
The flop was AT5, with two hearts. The UTG player checked, as did the calling station. I also checked as I feared a check-raise from the UTG player. Then player 4 went all-in for just over the pot. UTG and calling station both folded (UTG probably having KK or QQ). Suddenly, a hand I wasn't even sure I should have been in had opened up for me. The player I'd worried about had folded and I decided there was little chance player 4 would have gone all-in with a hand that beats me (unless AT or A5) and his bet looked more like a flush draw. I called and he showed Q9 hearts. I dodged the flush and nearly tripled up.
This set me on a nice run of good cards which I made the most of and gently moved up the leaderboard. I scraped the top ten a few times and was 20-something when my table broke with 50 players left. I'd done well identifying the tight players I could steal from and the good aggressive ones who would laydown to resteals at my previous table so I was annoyed I had to start from scratch again with new players. It was particularly annoying as this new table was more aggressive than the last one and I got dealt stone cold cards. Trying a resteal would mean sticking half my stack in with nothing, so I hunkered down and folded everything.
I got dealt AT in the BB when the button (who only had 5 BB) went all-in. It was an ATC move so I called, but he hit his K7 and my stack had a dent. With the blinds where they were, any resteal would have to be all-in.
On the bubble, it's folded round to me in mid position. I have KT, the best hand I've had for ages. It's also the first time it's been folded round to me in a while, so I raise, hoping to nick the blinds but folding like a shot to a resteal. The button (chip leader of the tournament), however, flat calls.
The flop is K66 and I have a decision to make. I've hit the flop but have no idea where I am in the hand. I have an almost pathological desire to take risks on the bubble - taunting the poker gods to smite me. I think this stems from the fact I never want to be a timid player, running down the clock each hand trying to scrape into the money. I'd rather bust out trying to get some chips.
However, this hand was different. Before it started, even though I'd taken a hit, I was in no danger of bubbling by folding. It would have burst in the next few hands anyway (one player had less than a blind left). I should have cut my losses and check-folded, even if it risked folding the best hand. Instead, I decide I was playing the hand. If I went all-in, I'd only get called by a hand which was beating me, so I check-raised, hoping he'd bet an inferior hand. He did bet, albeit with the vastly superior AK, and I was out.
I was so annoyed with myself for going out with this hand. I took unnecessary risks and got punished. I'll have to cut this out in Vegas. With the extra thought time you get in a live game I'll hopefully not make decisions that I'll regret later.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Two months of tat
Blimey, two months since my last proper post. It is certainly the case that good results prompt blog posts as I've had a properly uninspiring run of form of late.
Since my £15K and WSOP wins my MTT form has been rubbish. After having a good hard think about my style of play of late I've made an adjustment to my strategy. When I first started playing MTTs I was very much a 'by the book' player. This inevitably resulted in a relatively higher % of cashes, but often left me struggling for survival in the sharp end of tournaments.
I then made a concerted effort to play a more loose-aggressive game, and I certainly noticed that I would be more likely to accumulate chips and, crucially, I seemed to be making use of the chips when I got them, so I saw the odd early bust-out as a sacrifice worth making.
However, on a few occasions recently I've found myself quite high up the leaderboard at some stage, only to gift chips away through bad plays. I think I've allowed myself to get loose-aggressive at a level beyond my actual skill in the game at this point. I've also fallen into a trap of making crying calls because 'maybe he's bluffing'. This is a really amateur mistake.
Therefore, the adjustment I'm making is to be a bit less gung-ho and be more circumspect in MTTs - not wasting good positions when I get them.
Unfortunately, my poker bankroll has taken a battering recently. During my last big run of MTT woe, my cash game profits paid for the buy-ins, but the last couple of months I've made a loss here as well. It was bound to come eventually playing 6-max NL, but I hit my run of bad luck. From analysing my hands here I haven't played any worse than I did when I was making money, I've just not had the rub of the green in the big hands (which is what the NL cash bottom line comes down to).
One particularly bad session saw me get in a huge swingy battle with a Scandie who was a huge bluffer, and continually overbet the pot, but would hit whatever out he needed on the river (like keeping leading out on every street with 22 whilst I kept calling with my overpair only for him to hit his set on the river). A few other bad sessions have temporarily wiped out my online bankroll, and I can't replenish it at the moment because of having to cover extra rent and bills in my flat due to us being a flatmate down.
I've been keeping things ticking over by playing heads-up STTs on Pokerstars ($20 and $50 ones). After taking a little while to settle in, I'm getting the hang of these now and would feel confident of showing long term-profit. They are very intensive though - playing six hands a minute requires maximum concentration. I have found it strange how quickly you can get inside your opponent's way of thinking in a heads-up match - I've often found myself being able to confidently pick off bluffs after only playing someone for five or ten minutes. Patterns are much easier to detect in the hothouse atmosphere of a heads-up match as you're playing every hand against the same opponent.
I've not managed any more live events recently (apart from a Poker4Charity do, when I had my mind on other things) and seeing as Las Vegas is only six weeks away that's a bit crap. No live experience, no online form and no money to have a tourney blitz - not exactly great preparation :)
Since my £15K and WSOP wins my MTT form has been rubbish. After having a good hard think about my style of play of late I've made an adjustment to my strategy. When I first started playing MTTs I was very much a 'by the book' player. This inevitably resulted in a relatively higher % of cashes, but often left me struggling for survival in the sharp end of tournaments.
I then made a concerted effort to play a more loose-aggressive game, and I certainly noticed that I would be more likely to accumulate chips and, crucially, I seemed to be making use of the chips when I got them, so I saw the odd early bust-out as a sacrifice worth making.
However, on a few occasions recently I've found myself quite high up the leaderboard at some stage, only to gift chips away through bad plays. I think I've allowed myself to get loose-aggressive at a level beyond my actual skill in the game at this point. I've also fallen into a trap of making crying calls because 'maybe he's bluffing'. This is a really amateur mistake.
Therefore, the adjustment I'm making is to be a bit less gung-ho and be more circumspect in MTTs - not wasting good positions when I get them.
Unfortunately, my poker bankroll has taken a battering recently. During my last big run of MTT woe, my cash game profits paid for the buy-ins, but the last couple of months I've made a loss here as well. It was bound to come eventually playing 6-max NL, but I hit my run of bad luck. From analysing my hands here I haven't played any worse than I did when I was making money, I've just not had the rub of the green in the big hands (which is what the NL cash bottom line comes down to).
One particularly bad session saw me get in a huge swingy battle with a Scandie who was a huge bluffer, and continually overbet the pot, but would hit whatever out he needed on the river (like keeping leading out on every street with 22 whilst I kept calling with my overpair only for him to hit his set on the river). A few other bad sessions have temporarily wiped out my online bankroll, and I can't replenish it at the moment because of having to cover extra rent and bills in my flat due to us being a flatmate down.
I've been keeping things ticking over by playing heads-up STTs on Pokerstars ($20 and $50 ones). After taking a little while to settle in, I'm getting the hang of these now and would feel confident of showing long term-profit. They are very intensive though - playing six hands a minute requires maximum concentration. I have found it strange how quickly you can get inside your opponent's way of thinking in a heads-up match - I've often found myself being able to confidently pick off bluffs after only playing someone for five or ten minutes. Patterns are much easier to detect in the hothouse atmosphere of a heads-up match as you're playing every hand against the same opponent.
I've not managed any more live events recently (apart from a Poker4Charity do, when I had my mind on other things) and seeing as Las Vegas is only six weeks away that's a bit crap. No live experience, no online form and no money to have a tourney blitz - not exactly great preparation :)
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Pokerstars Blogger's Freeroll
I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!
This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.
Registration code: 5169031
Monday, May 08, 2006
Blogger's Freeroll
Virgin Poker are having a blogger's freeroll on Thursday at 7.30pm. I must try and remember to take part in this - the last one of these I posted about (on Pokerstars) I completely forgot about.
The prize is entry to the $1,500 WSOP event just before the main one, plus flights and accomodation, so it's a prize well worth winning (especially if you're already going to Vegas to take part in the main event and have already booked your flight via Virgin).
Friday, April 14, 2006
At least the soup was nice...
Given I've got my WSOP trip coming up, I've got to get a bit more live experience. I've gone right off mixing with the hoardes at the Gutshot crush, so tonight I went down to the Sportsman for their £100 rebuy. Now, I normally don't like rebuys, especially £100 ones, as they favour the players who can dig into their pocket the most often. Nevertheless, I decided upon a £300 budget for the evening (using money withdrawn from poker accounts I'm not going to use any more) and made my way to Marble Arch.
There are, by all accounts, usually some faces at this tournament but tonight the only one I recognised by sight was Koresh, and Kevin Daly when I heard his name. Most of the big names are in Dublin for the Irish Open. So, the field looked quite juicy, given that two other people I recognised were a 'throw money about' gambler I remember playing at one tournament at the Gutshot last year, and a sweet Oriental lady who had been at my table at a £30 Sportsman freezeout before and she's no poker player.
In a rebuy tournament, at a table with a few gamblers, you need to hit cards - you can't force people off hands. I found few spots where I could commit chips with confidence. I found AK twice. The first time I went all-in in late position behind a couple of limpers (I'm relatively shortstacked - 1400 chips at 100/200). The SB calls, as does one of the limpers. They have AA and KK. Even my slim chances at hitting a straight were kiboshed by the BB folding TT face-up.
The second AK hand was the sickest bad beat I've had in a live event. I go all-in, against the one limper ahead of me. Three cold-callers behind me plus the original limper calls, so I know that if I do win the hand, I can more than quintuple up. The flop is K85 all hearts. Seeing as I have the Ace of hearts I'm absolutely loving this flop. I love it even more when the original limper bets and forces everyone else to fold. I'm jumping cartwheels when this guy turns over K6 with no heart.
I think to myself as long as there's no six, I'm home. Turn is a 7 and the river is a 4. Before I have a chance to fully celebrate my victory, the cries of 'Straight' go up and I have to rebuy. Aaaargh.
Just before the rebuy period ends I get moved to another table, and Koresh's immediate left. On my very first hand at the table I see a free flop of KQ8 with 83. The flop is checked by the four of us and the turn is a 6, putting three clubs on the board. Koresh quickly bets out.
I immediately know Koresh doesn't have anything, and I go all-in (risking one of the other guys having hit his flush, but the odds are with me). They both fold and Koresh ums and ahs. He asks for a count and I realise I don't have quite as much as I thought I had. He should call with anything, but his fold means he did have absolutely nothing.
I got knocked out two hands into the freezeout period racing 99 against AQ but I can take heart from the fact I think I played well, considering, and made one really good read. I also had a very nice free dinner (a wonderful celeriac soup and cod with pesto mash)
I would like to play this tournament more often (especially when I think the big guns will be elsewhere) but I'd need to go with £500 in my pocket to feel like I have room to manouevre.
There are, by all accounts, usually some faces at this tournament but tonight the only one I recognised by sight was Koresh, and Kevin Daly when I heard his name. Most of the big names are in Dublin for the Irish Open. So, the field looked quite juicy, given that two other people I recognised were a 'throw money about' gambler I remember playing at one tournament at the Gutshot last year, and a sweet Oriental lady who had been at my table at a £30 Sportsman freezeout before and she's no poker player.
In a rebuy tournament, at a table with a few gamblers, you need to hit cards - you can't force people off hands. I found few spots where I could commit chips with confidence. I found AK twice. The first time I went all-in in late position behind a couple of limpers (I'm relatively shortstacked - 1400 chips at 100/200). The SB calls, as does one of the limpers. They have AA and KK. Even my slim chances at hitting a straight were kiboshed by the BB folding TT face-up.
The second AK hand was the sickest bad beat I've had in a live event. I go all-in, against the one limper ahead of me. Three cold-callers behind me plus the original limper calls, so I know that if I do win the hand, I can more than quintuple up. The flop is K85 all hearts. Seeing as I have the Ace of hearts I'm absolutely loving this flop. I love it even more when the original limper bets and forces everyone else to fold. I'm jumping cartwheels when this guy turns over K6 with no heart.
I think to myself as long as there's no six, I'm home. Turn is a 7 and the river is a 4. Before I have a chance to fully celebrate my victory, the cries of 'Straight' go up and I have to rebuy. Aaaargh.
Just before the rebuy period ends I get moved to another table, and Koresh's immediate left. On my very first hand at the table I see a free flop of KQ8 with 83. The flop is checked by the four of us and the turn is a 6, putting three clubs on the board. Koresh quickly bets out.
I immediately know Koresh doesn't have anything, and I go all-in (risking one of the other guys having hit his flush, but the odds are with me). They both fold and Koresh ums and ahs. He asks for a count and I realise I don't have quite as much as I thought I had. He should call with anything, but his fold means he did have absolutely nothing.
I got knocked out two hands into the freezeout period racing 99 against AQ but I can take heart from the fact I think I played well, considering, and made one really good read. I also had a very nice free dinner (a wonderful celeriac soup and cod with pesto mash)
I would like to play this tournament more often (especially when I think the big guns will be elsewhere) but I'd need to go with £500 in my pocket to feel like I have room to manouevre.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Sometimes you can do everything right and yet...
Last night's big $600K on Crypto - huge overlay as they only got just over half the runners needed to cover the guarantee (650 odd). After starting off with a couple of failed bluffs, I got back up to where I started before getting a huge hand.
I call a raise and a call with 88 and see a beautiful flop of 853 rainbow. First to act (the pre-flop raiser) bets just under the pot, then the next guy goes all-in. Even more beautiful. Sadly, the original raiser feels the heat too much and bails (with what he later said was TT). The other guy has AA and I move from 3000 chips up to 7000 and I'm 8th overall.
Then it all goes wrong. I get AA all-in against QQ pre-flop - he rivers his set. Then, five minutes later against the same guy, I get him to call my all-in on an AQ2 flop when he thinks his AK is ahead (sensible enough thought). However, I've totally put him on AK and have him well and truly over a barrel with my AQ. Until the river is a King, of course. Grrr.
I'm back down to 2800, and another 800 chips go when I have 57 on a 542 flop against my opponents 56. The river is a 6. My tournament ends when I push with AQ and run into AA.
A lot of players (and I mean a lot) would then use their next blog post as an opportunity to rant and rave about their bad fortune/useless fish/woe is me. Whilst I was disappointed to get knocked out of a big tournament so early, I was very happy with my play and I know that if I played like that in every major tournament I'd get a nice string of results.
Booked my flight to Las Vegas last night as well - just sixteen and a half weeks to go...
I call a raise and a call with 88 and see a beautiful flop of 853 rainbow. First to act (the pre-flop raiser) bets just under the pot, then the next guy goes all-in. Even more beautiful. Sadly, the original raiser feels the heat too much and bails (with what he later said was TT). The other guy has AA and I move from 3000 chips up to 7000 and I'm 8th overall.
Then it all goes wrong. I get AA all-in against QQ pre-flop - he rivers his set. Then, five minutes later against the same guy, I get him to call my all-in on an AQ2 flop when he thinks his AK is ahead (sensible enough thought). However, I've totally put him on AK and have him well and truly over a barrel with my AQ. Until the river is a King, of course. Grrr.
I'm back down to 2800, and another 800 chips go when I have 57 on a 542 flop against my opponents 56. The river is a 6. My tournament ends when I push with AQ and run into AA.
A lot of players (and I mean a lot) would then use their next blog post as an opportunity to rant and rave about their bad fortune/useless fish/woe is me. Whilst I was disappointed to get knocked out of a big tournament so early, I was very happy with my play and I know that if I played like that in every major tournament I'd get a nice string of results.
Booked my flight to Las Vegas last night as well - just sixteen and a half weeks to go...
Sunday, March 26, 2006
To-do list nearly to-done
I've never really been one for to-do lists, as I never seem to get around to doing what needs doing. However, I'm making rum progress on my poker to-do list for this year.
I've already been able to cross off 'winning a big online comp' and now I can put a line through 'qualify for another big offline tourney (WSOP?)' as that's precisely what I did tonight - and the WSOP at that!
Via two super satellites on Tuesday and Wednesday I found myself lining up with 29 other runners for the two seats on offer. I made a steady start, picking up a couple of small pots before I lost half my stack with JJ. I raised pre-flop and was re-raised by the small blind. I called and we saw a raggy flop (nine-high) and he threw out a pot sized continuation bet. I didn't really know where I was, so I raised, either winning the pot there or folding to a re-raise. After a dwell, he went all-in, so I gave him credit for the QQ+ and folded. If he bluffed me out of this with AK then good luck to him, but I don't think he did. Maybe I could have flat-called the flop bet, and seen what he did on the turn, but I then risked going broke if another rag fell and he did have QQ+.
I managed to recover some lost ground by picking up some pots when I'm sure I didn't have the best hand, before getting my much needed double-up with AA v KK all-in preflop. This lifted me up to above average chips.
The next hand of note I have 53 in the SB. The button limps and three of us see a flop of 34K, which was checked round. The turn was a 7, adding a gutshot straight draw to my hand, and I bet, which both players called. The river was a 5, giving me two pair but also putting three spades on board. I checked, as did the other two. They both had a 7, so I actually rivered them by spiking the five. The button made a comment about me rivering him, and I sensed that he now had me down as a bluffer (which, let's face it, I am).
I head up to about 6200 chips (we started with 2500) when I get AK in the SB. The button open-raises, and I re-raise him, which he calls. The flop of K98 is both checked and the turn is another 8. I bet and he calls. Given the previous hand, I'm sure he doesn't believe I've got an 8 (or even a King, for that matter). A meaningless 5 falls on the river, and I check (showing weakness) ready to call any bet he makes. He duly does so with his 77 and I take the pot. This brings me over 10,000 chips and I'm chip leader.
Five limpers on my BB, and I raise with QQ (hoping for a caller). I get one, he calls my continuation bet with a flush draw which misses and I'm up to 17,000 and the clear lead.
From here on in I have a great run of uncontested blindstealing. Nothing too major (or my opponents would cotton on) but enough to increase my stack gently. I'm careful to fold to the odd re-raise from a stack which could damage me, and manage to knock out a couple of shortstacks when I do have a genuine hand.
With 12 left, we're on two tables of six and it's folded to me on the SB with QQ. The BB has been very tight, but I raise anyway as I want to be able to define his hand if he does call. I fully expect him to fold, but he goes all-in with AQ. My QQ holds up and I have 29,000 chips.
My nearest challenger is on 13,000 and I know one of the seats is there for the taking. All I have to do is steal blinds and protect my stack by avoiding big confrontations to cruise through. This I manage to do easily by targeting the middle-sized stacks. They're very tight and their blinds are up for grabs.
When I knockout the 8th place player (QQ again) I have 36,000 of the 100,000 chips in play - 2nd place only has 16,000. I take out 7th by calling his pot-sized all-in on the flop with a flush draw, which hits on the river, rendering his AK no good. I now have 44,000 chips - 2nd has 15,000. By this stage I know they will all stay out of my way unless they have a huge hand, which I will fold to.
The 5th place guy went out by racing his AK against my 77 - I now have 61% of the chips in play and just need to wait for the others to knock each other out. As it was, the tournament only lasted four more hands and I won my seat.
Recently I've been doing really well in tournaments if I'm lucky enough to get a big stack - I'm getting much better at spotting when my opponent wants nothing more to do with the pot. Life is so much easier with chips.
At the moment I'm not nearly as excited as I thought I would be by winning a WSOP seat. I think that's mostly because once I got the huge chip lead, I sort of assumed the seat was there for me to lose, so rather than winning the prize, I feel as though I've avoided losing it, if you know what I mean. Once William Hill contact me with details of the prize I'm sure that'll get my juices going. After all, it's four months away yet.
I've already been able to cross off 'winning a big online comp' and now I can put a line through 'qualify for another big offline tourney (WSOP?)' as that's precisely what I did tonight - and the WSOP at that!
Via two super satellites on Tuesday and Wednesday I found myself lining up with 29 other runners for the two seats on offer. I made a steady start, picking up a couple of small pots before I lost half my stack with JJ. I raised pre-flop and was re-raised by the small blind. I called and we saw a raggy flop (nine-high) and he threw out a pot sized continuation bet. I didn't really know where I was, so I raised, either winning the pot there or folding to a re-raise. After a dwell, he went all-in, so I gave him credit for the QQ+ and folded. If he bluffed me out of this with AK then good luck to him, but I don't think he did. Maybe I could have flat-called the flop bet, and seen what he did on the turn, but I then risked going broke if another rag fell and he did have QQ+.
I managed to recover some lost ground by picking up some pots when I'm sure I didn't have the best hand, before getting my much needed double-up with AA v KK all-in preflop. This lifted me up to above average chips.
The next hand of note I have 53 in the SB. The button limps and three of us see a flop of 34K, which was checked round. The turn was a 7, adding a gutshot straight draw to my hand, and I bet, which both players called. The river was a 5, giving me two pair but also putting three spades on board. I checked, as did the other two. They both had a 7, so I actually rivered them by spiking the five. The button made a comment about me rivering him, and I sensed that he now had me down as a bluffer (which, let's face it, I am).
I head up to about 6200 chips (we started with 2500) when I get AK in the SB. The button open-raises, and I re-raise him, which he calls. The flop of K98 is both checked and the turn is another 8. I bet and he calls. Given the previous hand, I'm sure he doesn't believe I've got an 8 (or even a King, for that matter). A meaningless 5 falls on the river, and I check (showing weakness) ready to call any bet he makes. He duly does so with his 77 and I take the pot. This brings me over 10,000 chips and I'm chip leader.
Five limpers on my BB, and I raise with QQ (hoping for a caller). I get one, he calls my continuation bet with a flush draw which misses and I'm up to 17,000 and the clear lead.
From here on in I have a great run of uncontested blindstealing. Nothing too major (or my opponents would cotton on) but enough to increase my stack gently. I'm careful to fold to the odd re-raise from a stack which could damage me, and manage to knock out a couple of shortstacks when I do have a genuine hand.
With 12 left, we're on two tables of six and it's folded to me on the SB with QQ. The BB has been very tight, but I raise anyway as I want to be able to define his hand if he does call. I fully expect him to fold, but he goes all-in with AQ. My QQ holds up and I have 29,000 chips.
My nearest challenger is on 13,000 and I know one of the seats is there for the taking. All I have to do is steal blinds and protect my stack by avoiding big confrontations to cruise through. This I manage to do easily by targeting the middle-sized stacks. They're very tight and their blinds are up for grabs.
When I knockout the 8th place player (QQ again) I have 36,000 of the 100,000 chips in play - 2nd place only has 16,000. I take out 7th by calling his pot-sized all-in on the flop with a flush draw, which hits on the river, rendering his AK no good. I now have 44,000 chips - 2nd has 15,000. By this stage I know they will all stay out of my way unless they have a huge hand, which I will fold to.
The 5th place guy went out by racing his AK against my 77 - I now have 61% of the chips in play and just need to wait for the others to knock each other out. As it was, the tournament only lasted four more hands and I won my seat.
Recently I've been doing really well in tournaments if I'm lucky enough to get a big stack - I'm getting much better at spotting when my opponent wants nothing more to do with the pot. Life is so much easier with chips.
At the moment I'm not nearly as excited as I thought I would be by winning a WSOP seat. I think that's mostly because once I got the huge chip lead, I sort of assumed the seat was there for me to lose, so rather than winning the prize, I feel as though I've avoided losing it, if you know what I mean. Once William Hill contact me with details of the prize I'm sure that'll get my juices going. After all, it's four months away yet.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Blind robbery
OK, so I was going to do an analysis of my £15K win, but when I looked through the hands, two things were apparant (in addition to the 'my big hands held up' fact from my previous post).
1) I got lucky about 3 or 4 times in big hands (99 V KK pre-flop, 99 v AA all-in on raggy flop - both spiked sets on the river)
2) By getting a huge stack by the final table, I essentially just stole chips from the other players by continually raising till they played back at me. My opponents were too passive.
So, no great insights available.
Unbeknownst to me, the poker room I won the £15K through (Totalbet) were doing a promotion whereby the 5 highest raking players each day, plus the top tournament winner, qualified for a $2000 freeroll. My win got me into this last Saturday. 48 were eligible, but only 16 took part (Lesson - check your emails).
I won this as well. It was also spectacularly easy as my opponents were again far too passive. I suspect most of them were cash players who failed to understand the change in strategy required in tournaments. They just let me rob them blind.
The result? $1000 in my account plus entry into another freeroll tomorrow where the winner gets a seat in the WSOP in Las Vegas! 60 are eligible to enter - it'll be interesting to see how many take part. If the standard is as weak as last week's, I've got to fancy my chances.
Provided, of course, I don't do anything silly, like I did on Monday night. I'm in a super-sat for the $600K Crypto Sixpak in April. I managed to get up to be chip leader through a combination of two players trying to pull big bluffs and me outdrawing someone else.
My stack dwindled down to about average with 16 left (8 get seats). I have 88 and raise (I've been doing quite well at stealing blinds from people who are hunkering down for survival). It's folded around to the big blind who raises. He has been the one guy at the table who has been aggressive, and who would notice that I'd been table captain. If I'd have been him, I'd have re-raised me as well, just to keep me off his blind and give me a figurative smack on the nose. As I didn't believe his raise, I went all-in, knowing he would need an absolute monster to call, as I had him covered.
As it happens, he had KK, called and knocked me out. Obviously, a super-sat is no place to risk going out on a pre-flop move with 88. I should have folded to the re-raise and lived to fight another day. It was the worst play I can remember doing in quite a while - but quite funny as well, as it was so spectacularly bad.
1) I got lucky about 3 or 4 times in big hands (99 V KK pre-flop, 99 v AA all-in on raggy flop - both spiked sets on the river)
2) By getting a huge stack by the final table, I essentially just stole chips from the other players by continually raising till they played back at me. My opponents were too passive.
So, no great insights available.
Unbeknownst to me, the poker room I won the £15K through (Totalbet) were doing a promotion whereby the 5 highest raking players each day, plus the top tournament winner, qualified for a $2000 freeroll. My win got me into this last Saturday. 48 were eligible, but only 16 took part (Lesson - check your emails).
I won this as well. It was also spectacularly easy as my opponents were again far too passive. I suspect most of them were cash players who failed to understand the change in strategy required in tournaments. They just let me rob them blind.
The result? $1000 in my account plus entry into another freeroll tomorrow where the winner gets a seat in the WSOP in Las Vegas! 60 are eligible to enter - it'll be interesting to see how many take part. If the standard is as weak as last week's, I've got to fancy my chances.
Provided, of course, I don't do anything silly, like I did on Monday night. I'm in a super-sat for the $600K Crypto Sixpak in April. I managed to get up to be chip leader through a combination of two players trying to pull big bluffs and me outdrawing someone else.
My stack dwindled down to about average with 16 left (8 get seats). I have 88 and raise (I've been doing quite well at stealing blinds from people who are hunkering down for survival). It's folded around to the big blind who raises. He has been the one guy at the table who has been aggressive, and who would notice that I'd been table captain. If I'd have been him, I'd have re-raised me as well, just to keep me off his blind and give me a figurative smack on the nose. As I didn't believe his raise, I went all-in, knowing he would need an absolute monster to call, as I had him covered.
As it happens, he had KK, called and knocked me out. Obviously, a super-sat is no place to risk going out on a pre-flop move with 88. I should have folded to the re-raise and lived to fight another day. It was the worst play I can remember doing in quite a while - but quite funny as well, as it was so spectacularly bad.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Losing Run 0 - Andrew 4200
One of the most common refrains from poker players is that "I'm due a win". They've had a run of bad luck and are convinced that "it will even itself out soon". The longer the losing run goes on, the more it affects their play - the losing run itself becomes the focus of the player's attention.
Regular readers will know I've had a rather impressive sequence of non-cashes in tournaments - about 40 at the last count. One thing about it is that I haven't let it get to me at all, which has surprised even me. Not winning in tournaments is due to one of two things, bad luck or bad play. There have been many occasions during this run where I've been eliminated by an opponent getting lucky. This I don't mind as I'm more than capable of seeing the big picture - if I play well and my opponents play badly I'll win in the long run.
There have also been tournaments where I've gone out through playing a hand badly. This is more annoying, but I've been able to turn this to my advantage by properly examining how and why I made the mistakes in order to improve my game. I have identified one particular trait of mine (going all-in on a flush or straight draw on the flop against an opponent I know won't fold) which I'm now striving to eliminate.
All losing runs must end eventually, and I managed to make the cash in Saturday's £15K Guaranteed on Crypto. By 'make the cash' I actually mean 'totally destroyed everyone to win £4200'.
It was a dream tournament. I'll do a proper analysis of important hands in another post but a quick glance reveals the amazing stat that I got dealt a hand of a pair bigger than 66, or Ace bigger than AJ, on 30 occasions, and won every single time. Talk about big hands holding up! Admittedly, the majority of these hands won without a showdown, but not losing a big hand was crucial.
I amassed a huge stack of chips (I went to the final table with half the chips in play) which allowed me to concentrate purely on winning. I can honestly say I didn't think of the money until the tournament was over - my overwhelmingly commanding position meant that I would have considered anything other than a win as a failure, so concentrated purely on that.
So, we're still in February, and yet I can already cross off one of my goals for the year.
Regular readers will know I've had a rather impressive sequence of non-cashes in tournaments - about 40 at the last count. One thing about it is that I haven't let it get to me at all, which has surprised even me. Not winning in tournaments is due to one of two things, bad luck or bad play. There have been many occasions during this run where I've been eliminated by an opponent getting lucky. This I don't mind as I'm more than capable of seeing the big picture - if I play well and my opponents play badly I'll win in the long run.
There have also been tournaments where I've gone out through playing a hand badly. This is more annoying, but I've been able to turn this to my advantage by properly examining how and why I made the mistakes in order to improve my game. I have identified one particular trait of mine (going all-in on a flush or straight draw on the flop against an opponent I know won't fold) which I'm now striving to eliminate.
All losing runs must end eventually, and I managed to make the cash in Saturday's £15K Guaranteed on Crypto. By 'make the cash' I actually mean 'totally destroyed everyone to win £4200'.
It was a dream tournament. I'll do a proper analysis of important hands in another post but a quick glance reveals the amazing stat that I got dealt a hand of a pair bigger than 66, or Ace bigger than AJ, on 30 occasions, and won every single time. Talk about big hands holding up! Admittedly, the majority of these hands won without a showdown, but not losing a big hand was crucial.
I amassed a huge stack of chips (I went to the final table with half the chips in play) which allowed me to concentrate purely on winning. I can honestly say I didn't think of the money until the tournament was over - my overwhelmingly commanding position meant that I would have considered anything other than a win as a failure, so concentrated purely on that.
So, we're still in February, and yet I can already cross off one of my goals for the year.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
The run continues
My tournament woe goes on. This evening I entered another £20 Crypto tourney. 154 runners and I did some good ducking and diving early on. I wasn't getting any hands but managed to keep somewhere near the average chip count by raising limpers a couple of times and then bluffing the flop. As we got down to three tables I managed to make some progress when, in consecutive hands, I reraised someone when I had KK (and took the pot there), raised with AK and took the blinds and antes, and raised with 44, which held up against the BB's all-in with A6. Three hands later, a check-raise bluff on a raggy flop punished a continuation bet and everything was looking quite healthy. A raise with J9, followed by another flop bluff, had me in good stead as we approached the bubble...
I had AQ UTG. We're at 400/800 with antes of 100, so there's 1900 in the pot before we start. I raise to 2400 (about a quarter of my stack). The BB calls (the only stack at the table bigger than me). The flop is T84 rainbow. He checks, and I have just over the pot left, so I stick it in to take it. Mateyboy has flopped a set with 44. Initially I hadn't realised we were at 21 left, but remembered as soon as he called, then had a little chuckle to myself as I realised what I'd done. I will break this losing run sometime.
This afternoon I finally managed to get down to the Sportsman for their £30 freezeout. 23 entrants and, by george, was the general standard poor. Unfortunately I got no cards early on, and wasn't in the mood to bluff it all off to some calling stations. I lost a good chunk when I raised with AT and got a caller in the BB (calling station). The flop was Ace-high, she checked and I bet, which she called. The turn was a Q, and she immediately went all-in. Even though I'd seen little of her play, this seemed unusually aggressive and, after a think, I folded. The turn hadn't completed any draws, so I think I was beaten.
After the break, we were down to two tables. I was moved two places to the right of someone who was calling everything pre-flop and liked to bluff afterwards. I was very shortstacked and raised with AT. He called (like he always did) and the next guy immediately went all-in. I knew I was in trouble, and I was - he had AJ. However, muppet then proceeded to call this second all-in with 53! Of course, the flop came down 33K, and a 5 on the turn sealed our fate. It was quite funny to see possibly the worst player I have ever seen at a poker table with so many chips. Even guys who were playing their first ever game seemed to play better than he did. One example was raising with 84 off suit, which found one caller. He then bet out on a KQ8 flop, which was called. He then bet all-in when a Q came on the flop - the way he did it screamed 'the world's most obvious bluff'. However, the other guy was playing his first game and called with his JT straight draw!
There's little you can do against these sorts of players except get cards and get lucky. I think you also have to make bigger bets than usual to get them to fold anything and, invariably, if they call you've committed a lot of chips and will be shortstacked. Despite all this I think I will definitely go down there again as there was a very friendly atmosphere and there wasn't the 'Gutshot crush'.
I had AQ UTG. We're at 400/800 with antes of 100, so there's 1900 in the pot before we start. I raise to 2400 (about a quarter of my stack). The BB calls (the only stack at the table bigger than me). The flop is T84 rainbow. He checks, and I have just over the pot left, so I stick it in to take it. Mateyboy has flopped a set with 44. Initially I hadn't realised we were at 21 left, but remembered as soon as he called, then had a little chuckle to myself as I realised what I'd done. I will break this losing run sometime.
This afternoon I finally managed to get down to the Sportsman for their £30 freezeout. 23 entrants and, by george, was the general standard poor. Unfortunately I got no cards early on, and wasn't in the mood to bluff it all off to some calling stations. I lost a good chunk when I raised with AT and got a caller in the BB (calling station). The flop was Ace-high, she checked and I bet, which she called. The turn was a Q, and she immediately went all-in. Even though I'd seen little of her play, this seemed unusually aggressive and, after a think, I folded. The turn hadn't completed any draws, so I think I was beaten.
After the break, we were down to two tables. I was moved two places to the right of someone who was calling everything pre-flop and liked to bluff afterwards. I was very shortstacked and raised with AT. He called (like he always did) and the next guy immediately went all-in. I knew I was in trouble, and I was - he had AJ. However, muppet then proceeded to call this second all-in with 53! Of course, the flop came down 33K, and a 5 on the turn sealed our fate. It was quite funny to see possibly the worst player I have ever seen at a poker table with so many chips. Even guys who were playing their first ever game seemed to play better than he did. One example was raising with 84 off suit, which found one caller. He then bet out on a KQ8 flop, which was called. He then bet all-in when a Q came on the flop - the way he did it screamed 'the world's most obvious bluff'. However, the other guy was playing his first game and called with his JT straight draw!
There's little you can do against these sorts of players except get cards and get lucky. I think you also have to make bigger bets than usual to get them to fold anything and, invariably, if they call you've committed a lot of chips and will be shortstacked. Despite all this I think I will definitely go down there again as there was a very friendly atmosphere and there wasn't the 'Gutshot crush'.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Cardiff revealed
My William Hill Grand Prix heat was on the TV last week, so I can actually talk about it without breaking the embargo. I came 6th of 8 in my heat. I was pleased with how I appeared in the final edit - I wasn't shown doing anything too amateurish. I had very few decent cards and, as you would expect at a table of that quality, there were few chances to nick chips. The one hand where I managed to get some chips was as follows.
I'm in the BB and Tony G raises from the button. I have T9 hearts so I call (given the title of the blog I could hardly fold it). The flop is 995 with 2 spades. Now, when I remembered this hand, I thought I bet out with my trips, but I actually check-raised Tony. Betting out would have been preferred, as it would disguise my hand better. Anyway, Tony called and the turn is my perfect card - the ten of spades. I'm sure Tony has just made a flush. I bet out and Tony calls. The river is an incredibly annoying ten. Seeing as my check-raise made it obvious I had a nine, my full house is staring Tony in the face. I make a small bet, which he has to call to keep me honest, saying 'You got lucky there'. I retort 'No, you got lucky', which gets a cool 'Whoa, Andrew giving Tony a bit of verbal there' from Jesse May on the commentary. Tony did have the flush, as I suspected. What I didn't know what that he'd tried to steal my blind with 83!
My chips then dribbled away as I couldn't find a hand, or a good spot to steal some blinds. I raised Roy Brindley's BB with A8, and he went-all in with A5 and I laid down. The next hand they showed was the same situation next time round, when I raised with KQ, but this time Roy had me in all sorts of trouble with AQ. Now, on the programme you see me have a long think, whilst Jesse and Lucy Rokach say things like 'It's tough to lay this down' and 'This would be a great fold if he can make it'.
Actually, I was only pretending to think - I was never going to call. I've been burned too often in the past by calling an all-in with KQ, as I'm too often dominated. I'm just glad Roy had AQ rather than something weaker.
I went out when I reraised Tony G all-in with AT. I was at the get-chips-or-die stage and was unlucky to find him with AJ. I was fed up of not getting a decent hand. It was a fun event though, and I am pleased with the fact I kept getting referred to as a 'young man' even though I was older than two other players and am the same age as Tony G.
Very crappy poker month so far - 18 tournaments paid and not a single cash. I've played 9 £20 tourneys with between 41 and 90 entrants (where the money is top 10) and finished in the teens 4 times. I've just had rotten luck with finding any decent hands, and when I try and force the issue, I just keep finding a bunch of calling stations who call down my bluffs. I know it will turn, but it's very frustrating. I'm showing a small profit in cash games, but am down for the month overall. I've also had a cold/chest infection for the past twelve days which I can't shift which is really getting on my nerves.
I might try and get down to the Sportsman casino in Marble Arch tomorrow afternoon for a £30 freezeout. I've heard good things about this place, but it's normally a high-roller venue (£100 rebuys and £250 freezeouts) so I want the chance to try it out in a smaller buy-in event. The tourney also takes place after a poker beginner's lesson, so hopefully there will be some players who have never played live before. If my run of poker luck continues, then at least the food there is supposed to be excellent, so I might have a Sunday lunch there.
I'm in the BB and Tony G raises from the button. I have T9 hearts so I call (given the title of the blog I could hardly fold it). The flop is 995 with 2 spades. Now, when I remembered this hand, I thought I bet out with my trips, but I actually check-raised Tony. Betting out would have been preferred, as it would disguise my hand better. Anyway, Tony called and the turn is my perfect card - the ten of spades. I'm sure Tony has just made a flush. I bet out and Tony calls. The river is an incredibly annoying ten. Seeing as my check-raise made it obvious I had a nine, my full house is staring Tony in the face. I make a small bet, which he has to call to keep me honest, saying 'You got lucky there'. I retort 'No, you got lucky', which gets a cool 'Whoa, Andrew giving Tony a bit of verbal there' from Jesse May on the commentary. Tony did have the flush, as I suspected. What I didn't know what that he'd tried to steal my blind with 83!
My chips then dribbled away as I couldn't find a hand, or a good spot to steal some blinds. I raised Roy Brindley's BB with A8, and he went-all in with A5 and I laid down. The next hand they showed was the same situation next time round, when I raised with KQ, but this time Roy had me in all sorts of trouble with AQ. Now, on the programme you see me have a long think, whilst Jesse and Lucy Rokach say things like 'It's tough to lay this down' and 'This would be a great fold if he can make it'.
Actually, I was only pretending to think - I was never going to call. I've been burned too often in the past by calling an all-in with KQ, as I'm too often dominated. I'm just glad Roy had AQ rather than something weaker.
I went out when I reraised Tony G all-in with AT. I was at the get-chips-or-die stage and was unlucky to find him with AJ. I was fed up of not getting a decent hand. It was a fun event though, and I am pleased with the fact I kept getting referred to as a 'young man' even though I was older than two other players and am the same age as Tony G.
Very crappy poker month so far - 18 tournaments paid and not a single cash. I've played 9 £20 tourneys with between 41 and 90 entrants (where the money is top 10) and finished in the teens 4 times. I've just had rotten luck with finding any decent hands, and when I try and force the issue, I just keep finding a bunch of calling stations who call down my bluffs. I know it will turn, but it's very frustrating. I'm showing a small profit in cash games, but am down for the month overall. I've also had a cold/chest infection for the past twelve days which I can't shift which is really getting on my nerves.
I might try and get down to the Sportsman casino in Marble Arch tomorrow afternoon for a £30 freezeout. I've heard good things about this place, but it's normally a high-roller venue (£100 rebuys and £250 freezeouts) so I want the chance to try it out in a smaller buy-in event. The tourney also takes place after a poker beginner's lesson, so hopefully there will be some players who have never played live before. If my run of poker luck continues, then at least the food there is supposed to be excellent, so I might have a Sunday lunch there.
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