I was looking forward to the £300 freezeout at the end of November. This event is, I suppose, the Blue Riband offering on the poker schedule at The International.
I rarely play live poker at the weekend. I’ve only played the £100 a couple of times ever, and I have literally never taken part in the £300 (either here or at The Gutshot).
The event would be my last chance to register a tournament win in London for 2009. It didn’t seem terribly likely, but one has to be optimistic !
I started out on a positive note, registering a win in the scrabble beforehand. Perhaps I could overcome similarly tough opposition in the main event ?
Generally speaking, I start out in a deep-stacked tournament by setting fire to part of my stack. I have never adjusted well to the long structures, and I just cannot seem to make the necessary changes to my game. I vowed to try to correct for this today.
As expected, the 63 runners were a Who’s Who of Gutshot/International players. Faces everywhere.
My table was no exception. For example .... on my left, Stuart Prior (serial final tablist in the £100) and Mikey Tse. On my right, Prof Achillea, Martin Spearing and Phil Haddon.
For the first couple of orbits I was very careful about getting involved until I did try a little (and rather obvious) bluff last to act on the river on a Q-8-5-6-6, showing 3 diamonds. Phil Haddon found a call with Q5. Perhaps this was factor in the hand that played out shortly thereafter?
Still at 25/50, we see a 7-way limped pot with Andy having started off the limping. I have KhTh.
The flop give me some hope: J-9-6 with one heart. Andy bet 125 and finds 3 callers including me.
The turn is gin for me: Qh bringing me the nuts with the King-high flush draw. Andy bets 175. I have a range of options, but I must raise for value I think. I make it 625 and am pleased to find Phil Haddon and then Andy calling. There is now about 2,700 in the pot.
The river is a blank. Andy checks. I have the immortal nuts – can I get paid ? Clearly Phil and Andy have hands of some value. Again, there must be a variety of options here. I consider checking over to Phil but I opt to make a small lead bet. I revise down my initial thought of bet size and put in just 1,200. Perhaps it will look weak ?
Good news. Phil puts out a raise (also small) to 3,000. Clearly he is not trying to bluff me here. My first thought is that we may be chopping, but I do find it unlikely that Phil wouldn’t have raised with KT and no hearts on the turn. Surely he would not raise now with a set or 2 pair?
It seems definitely possible that he has T8, even though with this hand he might also flat call the river. Perhaps he doesn’t feel 1,200 is enough reward for his hand and believes I will call with a hand like 2 pair myself?
Andy folds (2 pair he says). It does seem unlikely that Phil will now call if I re-raise the river. I do my best to appear discomfited, and take a look at the stack situation. On the one hand I may need to almost min-raise to get him to call, when he must now believe he is losing. I could make it as little as 4,800 theoretically. I started the hand with about 11k so an all-in raise would be to about 10,000 – about a pot sized raise in fact.
It is well known that I like the river raise or check-raise bluff. The 3-bet-all-in-river-bluff is the most grown up bet in this family of high octane plays. I must get some credit for a possible audacious bluff ?
If I do shove, I am of course expecting either a sigh-fold or a snap call for the chop. I am really not expecting Phil to call almost all-in with less than KT. There again, if he’s calling at all maybe he has to call the shove and maybe it is easier to call the shove?
On the whole I do think I under-bet my monsters, so I go for it.
When he doesn’t snap, I’m praying for him to find the hero inside! He mutters some version of the “this is sick” psalm and I think he uttered the classic “I think you’ve got it but I can’t fold” and with that, he makes the call with T8 and is shown the bad news.
Up to 22k and presumably the chiplead ! Phil still had a couple of thousand left. I think this was a factor in his decision. That is still 40 big blinds in this comp, and in fact Phil doubled up with a T8 straight a short while later. I remember thinking that it was still quite likely he would outlast me !
I made another nice step forward towards the end of the same level. Having made it 150 from late position, I get a call from Mike Tse and one other. Mike leads for 200 from the blinds when the flop comes Ts9h3s. I have As6s and I opt for the raise to 800, which Mike flats.
I ask him “do you have a flush draw?” No answer as per usual. The turn is the Js. The nuts for me. Mike checks. How much to bet ? I decide again on a smallish bet and decide on 1,400. I pick up 2x reds (500 each) and 4x 100 chips. I say “fourteen” and throw in the2 reds and 4 greys.
Now, the greys are 1,000 each so I have actually put in 5,000 chips! There is some confusion and some amusement at the table. Some kind of moody from me ? Some kind of Freudian slip ?
Someone suggested that I may have been made to put in fourteen thousand but I think the decision was pretty commonsense and I colour down the bet. Mike calls.
I’m not too sure what to put him on, honestly. A smaller flush ? KT with the King of spades ? KQ with one or more spades ?
My ideal river is a spade I guess. The Jack of hearts comes down. Hmm. I am not too delighted about this but, really, can he have a house ? Can he have a set on the flop and bet/call like that ?
Unlikely surely. How about TJ, J9 ? Not impossible but would he check the river ? Obviously I don’t want to get check-raise bluffed but once again I am aware that I need to get enough value for my big hand and that my image can help me get paid.
I choose an amount that I hope will dissuade Mikey from a bluff raise. I go for 4,000 into about a 4,900 pot. Mikey obviously had a hand as he found a call after a modest dwell, and I was good.
On about 26,500 chips I was feeling in great shape, obviously. I was very aware of my history of blowing up big stacks and I even took a couple of fairly long breaks from the table to enforce some discipline.
I thought I might really be running good when I picked up Kings on the button. Unfortunately, my standard raise took down the blinds and one limper.
Likewise, just a couple of hands later I find Aces and raise in early-mid position. Robin on my immediate left seemed to have been playing quite solid values and he appeared to think very carefully before make a near minimum raise from 600 to 1,200.
I thought I may be in luck. Ordinarily I might think his raise indicated Aces. This seemed unlikely here ! We seemed too deep for me to just flat but my 2,500 re-raise unfortunately scared him away. He later told me he only had QJ, so I suppose this wasn’t that tight of a fold !
Andy Achillea had been moved from our table and after a period playing 8 and 7 handed, we received a couple of new players. Briony Stone was moved into Andy’s seat on my right.
In her first hand she was the SB to my BB. I thought I may be getting a walk, until Briony bumps the bet to 700 (100/200). I have the rather appealing-looking JhTh. I think (why ?) that Briony may not have a monster so I decide a raise to clarify the situation is in order.
I don’t want to commit myself so I am about to make a smallish raise but something makes me say “2,000 more”.
This is met with an insta-ship for a further 5,200. I guess I found out. I go to fold when something else says to me “getting 2:1 ...” and I’m taking into account that Briony may well realise that my initial raise can be very light. Can’t she re-shove with 8s and 9s and AK, AQ ?
I hear myself say “call”. Briony has Aces, obviously. Is this the beginning of the downward spiral ?
Still, it wasn’t an easy hold for the Aces – two hearts on the flop and a Jack on the river gave me 14 outs on the river. None came, though, and the very next hand I bluffed 2,000 into the river only to find Briony insta-calling with 99 on the Queen high board. The river did complete a straight, but unfortunately it was the 5-7 straight rather than the 5-6 that I held. Still, it was promising to realise I could have value bet a made straight and been paid.
I still was running OK. The main problem was getting paid rather than getting a hand. I was hitting sets for fun, and straights as well although the next straight I made came with a flush on board – Martin Spearing made the flush on the turn exactly when I made the nut straight. I called his check-raise and when the river paired, I was able to see the bad-news-showdown without facing another bet. Could I have barrelled the river and represented ? Maybe.
I continue to preserve my chips relatively well, in my opinion, whilst at the same time playing pretty aggressively. It is important to play within one’s own style, I think.
However, with about 40 players left we’re in the last hand of level 6 (200/400/50), when this happens ...
JoeJoe “Goldenboy” Whittaker opens for 1,025 in early-mid. Martin Spearing is super-short on the button and is now all-in for 1,050. I am the big blind with 9s4s facing 650 to call into a pot of 1,050x2+200+400+9x50=3,150, so I am receiving nearly 5-1 on the call.
I cannot resist the call. OK ...
Flop – good news, bad news. J-9-4 all diamonds. I flop bottom two pair. This is probably winning right now. Of course, our Golden Boy may have flopped anything up to and including the nuts.
I opt to check to see what happens first. I have about 21k at this point and JoeJoe has me covered by several thousand.
He bets 2,025. Into a dry side pot this obviously announces that he has some values. The logic for my next action is one of those part-baked ideas. I wanted to “explain” to JoeJoe that I have flopped a big hand and that he should fold. I decide that a min raise will achieve this, even though realistically he cannot fold !
I duly make it 4,050 and now the rest falls into place. “How much do you have” etc. And then “alright, I’m all in”.
At this point I am essentially certain that he has one pair and one diamond. I should also explain that pre-flop I verbalised the fact that I was making a pure odds call. This means my opponent knows that his one pair/one diamond hand is either the best hand or the best draw. He has excellent information on the scenario.
The only hand he really fears from me is something like 8d3d and even then he knows he is almost certain to have a high diamond draw. There is essentially zero chance I have a made flush higher than a Queen.
OK ... If I fold I leave 40bb, about to become 25bb or so. Not a disaster. However, if I win I will have > 42k chips – up there with the leaders. I am very sure I am ahead now but I am also pretty sure I am about a 50/50 shot.
I think that to do well in these tournies I probably need to alter my style to incorporate a much higher value on my tournament life. In the moment, I made a deliberate decision that I wanted to play to win. Now I suspect a majority may argue that “playing to win” means fold here.
However, not wishing to give Ostrich more ammo to call me The Laydown King, I go for the call.
JoeJoe, as advertised, has QdJh. Martin in fact has a gutshot and a diamond draw with KcTd. The turn brings a Queen – making Martin the current nuts.
I need one of the remaining 4s or 9s. No joy and I am left to rue my pre-flop call. I don’t think I can ever get away on the flop although others maybe can ?
About the only comfort I can take is that my two chip donatees (JoeJoe and Briony) both final tabled as chipleader and eventual winner respectively !
2010 targets ... win a tournament at The International.
Monday 30 November 2009
Sunday 29 November 2009
Bingo!
During a recent late night PLO game, Miriam threw down the scrabble challenge gauntlet. Perhaps it wasn’t exactly a “challenge”, per se, but wanted to play and was confident she would win.
Based on what we know, this seemed plausible. But, never one to let near-certain defeat put me off, I accepted the challenge. We agreed to play before the £300 at the end of November.
I don’t know whether Miriam really expected the game to go ahead, but after I announced it on the forum it really had to be done!
Knowing that Miriam is a very good player, I was surprised to learn that she had in her possession neither a scrabble set, nor a scrabble dictionary!
I don’t have a board either as I have been playing on facebook with other forum members over the past few months but I haven’t played a “live” game for over 30 years. In any case, first order of the day on Saturday was a stop at “Toys-R-Us” to pick up a brand new scrabble kit. The game was removed from its shrink-wrap live at The International – so no issues over it being a complete set!
Expecting a heavy defeat, I negotiated Miriam down from £1 a point to 50p/point and off we went.
I ran good.
First, I picked “E” vs. Miriam’s “O” to win the right to play first (presumably that is an advantage) and whaddya know. Straight away I can play all 7 letters (playing all 7 letters is known as a “Bingo” in scrabble and is one of the keys to high scoring). It is obviously rare to be able to start the game this way, but unbelievably I found “ALCOVES” and I’m off to an absolute flyer – 82 points to open. That’s like picking up Aces vs. Kings in the first hand!
Miriam started with a modest 10, but then as I struggled to follow my strong start, Miriam fought back impressively using small multi-word combos to great effect. I had played “DIRT” when I should have played “WRIT” at move 2 and this enabled Miriam to play a really elegant SAY/DIRTY/NA for 33 points using only 3 letters.
A couple of moves later, she found the chance to play a Q on a double letter score AND pick up the double word – effectively netting 40 points for a single tile. “QUIET” was the word, but the reaction was anything but. Miriam had pulled back to within 3 points.
She was unlucky to find me with a “U” in hand so I could play “QUAD” to the triple word score in the bottom left, effectively neutralising her quad-Q to a great extent.
Now I had picked up 2 S’s and a blank is my hand – that’s a bit like freerolling to the nuts two ways. I had “FISSION” in my hand but couldn’t see how to play it for another Bingo. Miriam called the clock on me and I settled for playing just the “F” and holding the other letters.
Miriam took the chance to play two letters again for an AH/HA/DA combo – 23 points for two letters – very nice. She wasn’t sure about DA and I didn’t think she was bluffing, so I made the first of three important challenges that proved critical in the game.
DA was good (a Burmese knife) so I miss my turn and Miriam gets the chance to play on the open Triple Word at the top of the board. She breaks the 200 point barrier and gains the lead for the first time.
Meanwhile I decide to hold on to the chance of a bingo and play “IO” and “GO” for just 7 points.
Miriam makes an error here, I believe. She challenges and when IO turns out to be a valid term for a type of moth, I get a free go and can now play my S-S-blank combo for a Bingo (SUIToRS) and gain the momentum back.
Miriam couldn't quite believe that one, but at least she has learned a word to use in anger another time.
Game on! The “sack” was hitting me in the face, really, but Miriam countered with a fantastic 50 points for playing X on a triple letter, scoring twice in one move (XI, EX) – 48 points for 1 letter !
She unbelievably had the lead back despite me playing 2 Bingos and snagging a tripled-Q.
I say the tiles were good to me but at one point here I held the rather unfavourable AAEEEEB. I never like to exchange or pass. I prefer to play out of trouble – dropping in EE in the middle of some other words. Miriam was dubious about “IDES” but let it go (it is valid in fact).
After EX/XI I played CAB/BIO (although risky/doubtful) but Miriam elected not to risk the challenge again (BIO was fine in fact).
She was able to tag “CAB” to play LUNGS and SCAB which may have left the board a bit open and when I managed to dump my Z fairly safely, Miriam failed to close off the top-left triple when she chose to play RINK to keep the scoring lead in the game.
I was able to use the triple (and make it safe) with LIVED.
All the tiles were now out and I held EJLOPT to Miriam’s MNNORTU. Playing “MORN/EM/DO” Miriam moved into a single point lead (actually on checking the scores later Miriam was in fact 2 points behind at this stage. “Live” we saw her as 1 ahead – either way it was extremely close).
Miriam announced she could go out at the next turn. I hold a P and crucially an 8-point J in my hand. If she really can go out then I am crushed if I do not play my J. Not only will I not score with it, but it will effectively count against me 8 points twice.
The letter J is not always easy to play, and I am not sure what score I need to defend either.
I opt to play “JO” which I knew was good and at the same time I make “OI” and “JA”. I score the J twice (instead of losing it twice) but I am not certain about “JA”.
I have to make up my mind quickly and decide to go for it.
JA/JO/OI puts me 19 ahead. I have 6 points left in my hand. If Miriam knows this (theoretically she should but in practice she will be guessing) then she will need to score 8 to win. Scoring 8 puts her 11 behind and the 6 in my hand is deduced from my score AND added to hers. This will leave her the winner by one point!
In a world of perfect information, Miriam would know all this and play “TURN” on the double word score, for exactly 8 and a win by a single point.
I give a bit of speech about now being sure of “JA” and Miriam decides to challenge. If she is right, she is a lock for the game but when “JA” is good (it means Yes, basically) I get another go and dump my P.
That settles it for a win by 17 (Miriam actually plays “RUNT” for 6 points on the end which doesn’t matter now).
In quite a twist, I rechecked the scores in detail later (and with the benefit of time) and it turns out that Miriam was in fact 22 points behind so if she doesn’t challenge and plays “TURN” then her 1 pt win would swing to a 2 point loss on recount. How to rule on this one ? She had incorrect information and could have played differently if she knew. Would the result stand? Tricky one!
I only ever play on the internet so wrong scores do not happen. Miriam made no errors at all in calling her scores. I scored wrong 3 times (only by 1 or 2 points) but as we see it can make all the difference!
It’s fair to say that Miriam played the better game but it takes two to tango, and all agreed it was an exciting match. Most said it was more exciting than watching KILLYGLEN fail to trouble the scorers at the Haydock Park which was on simultaneously.
I had wanted to watch the race but the board held my attention, and apparently I didn’t miss much (except for the $100 I had on the stupid nag ...).
International Scrabble Tournament anyone ?
Based on what we know, this seemed plausible. But, never one to let near-certain defeat put me off, I accepted the challenge. We agreed to play before the £300 at the end of November.
I don’t know whether Miriam really expected the game to go ahead, but after I announced it on the forum it really had to be done!
Knowing that Miriam is a very good player, I was surprised to learn that she had in her possession neither a scrabble set, nor a scrabble dictionary!
I don’t have a board either as I have been playing on facebook with other forum members over the past few months but I haven’t played a “live” game for over 30 years. In any case, first order of the day on Saturday was a stop at “Toys-R-Us” to pick up a brand new scrabble kit. The game was removed from its shrink-wrap live at The International – so no issues over it being a complete set!
Expecting a heavy defeat, I negotiated Miriam down from £1 a point to 50p/point and off we went.
I ran good.
First, I picked “E” vs. Miriam’s “O” to win the right to play first (presumably that is an advantage) and whaddya know. Straight away I can play all 7 letters (playing all 7 letters is known as a “Bingo” in scrabble and is one of the keys to high scoring). It is obviously rare to be able to start the game this way, but unbelievably I found “ALCOVES” and I’m off to an absolute flyer – 82 points to open. That’s like picking up Aces vs. Kings in the first hand!
Miriam started with a modest 10, but then as I struggled to follow my strong start, Miriam fought back impressively using small multi-word combos to great effect. I had played “DIRT” when I should have played “WRIT” at move 2 and this enabled Miriam to play a really elegant SAY/DIRTY/NA for 33 points using only 3 letters.
A couple of moves later, she found the chance to play a Q on a double letter score AND pick up the double word – effectively netting 40 points for a single tile. “QUIET” was the word, but the reaction was anything but. Miriam had pulled back to within 3 points.
She was unlucky to find me with a “U” in hand so I could play “QUAD” to the triple word score in the bottom left, effectively neutralising her quad-Q to a great extent.
Now I had picked up 2 S’s and a blank is my hand – that’s a bit like freerolling to the nuts two ways. I had “FISSION” in my hand but couldn’t see how to play it for another Bingo. Miriam called the clock on me and I settled for playing just the “F” and holding the other letters.
Miriam took the chance to play two letters again for an AH/HA/DA combo – 23 points for two letters – very nice. She wasn’t sure about DA and I didn’t think she was bluffing, so I made the first of three important challenges that proved critical in the game.
DA was good (a Burmese knife) so I miss my turn and Miriam gets the chance to play on the open Triple Word at the top of the board. She breaks the 200 point barrier and gains the lead for the first time.
Meanwhile I decide to hold on to the chance of a bingo and play “IO” and “GO” for just 7 points.
Miriam makes an error here, I believe. She challenges and when IO turns out to be a valid term for a type of moth, I get a free go and can now play my S-S-blank combo for a Bingo (SUIToRS) and gain the momentum back.
Miriam couldn't quite believe that one, but at least she has learned a word to use in anger another time.
Game on! The “sack” was hitting me in the face, really, but Miriam countered with a fantastic 50 points for playing X on a triple letter, scoring twice in one move (XI, EX) – 48 points for 1 letter !
She unbelievably had the lead back despite me playing 2 Bingos and snagging a tripled-Q.
I say the tiles were good to me but at one point here I held the rather unfavourable AAEEEEB. I never like to exchange or pass. I prefer to play out of trouble – dropping in EE in the middle of some other words. Miriam was dubious about “IDES” but let it go (it is valid in fact).
After EX/XI I played CAB/BIO (although risky/doubtful) but Miriam elected not to risk the challenge again (BIO was fine in fact).
She was able to tag “CAB” to play LUNGS and SCAB which may have left the board a bit open and when I managed to dump my Z fairly safely, Miriam failed to close off the top-left triple when she chose to play RINK to keep the scoring lead in the game.
I was able to use the triple (and make it safe) with LIVED.
All the tiles were now out and I held EJLOPT to Miriam’s MNNORTU. Playing “MORN/EM/DO” Miriam moved into a single point lead (actually on checking the scores later Miriam was in fact 2 points behind at this stage. “Live” we saw her as 1 ahead – either way it was extremely close).
Miriam announced she could go out at the next turn. I hold a P and crucially an 8-point J in my hand. If she really can go out then I am crushed if I do not play my J. Not only will I not score with it, but it will effectively count against me 8 points twice.
The letter J is not always easy to play, and I am not sure what score I need to defend either.
I opt to play “JO” which I knew was good and at the same time I make “OI” and “JA”. I score the J twice (instead of losing it twice) but I am not certain about “JA”.
I have to make up my mind quickly and decide to go for it.
JA/JO/OI puts me 19 ahead. I have 6 points left in my hand. If Miriam knows this (theoretically she should but in practice she will be guessing) then she will need to score 8 to win. Scoring 8 puts her 11 behind and the 6 in my hand is deduced from my score AND added to hers. This will leave her the winner by one point!
In a world of perfect information, Miriam would know all this and play “TURN” on the double word score, for exactly 8 and a win by a single point.
I give a bit of speech about now being sure of “JA” and Miriam decides to challenge. If she is right, she is a lock for the game but when “JA” is good (it means Yes, basically) I get another go and dump my P.
That settles it for a win by 17 (Miriam actually plays “RUNT” for 6 points on the end which doesn’t matter now).
In quite a twist, I rechecked the scores in detail later (and with the benefit of time) and it turns out that Miriam was in fact 22 points behind so if she doesn’t challenge and plays “TURN” then her 1 pt win would swing to a 2 point loss on recount. How to rule on this one ? She had incorrect information and could have played differently if she knew. Would the result stand? Tricky one!
I only ever play on the internet so wrong scores do not happen. Miriam made no errors at all in calling her scores. I scored wrong 3 times (only by 1 or 2 points) but as we see it can make all the difference!
It’s fair to say that Miriam played the better game but it takes two to tango, and all agreed it was an exciting match. Most said it was more exciting than watching KILLYGLEN fail to trouble the scorers at the Haydock Park which was on simultaneously.
I had wanted to watch the race but the board held my attention, and apparently I didn’t miss much (except for the $100 I had on the stupid nag ...).
International Scrabble Tournament anyone ?
Thursday 12 November 2009
Lost My Car Playing PLO
Not literally, you understand, but it was the kind of game where you could imagine anything happening.
I made a trip down to The International to play in the $100k bounty tournament, and it turned out to be a great fun night of poker.
First phase was a quick spin in the £1-1 NLH game. I say “spin”, but there is another word that goes after “spin” that is not “up”.
I didn’t have long before the bounty tournament itself, so I was playing “speed poker”. It worked OK some of the time, but a few of the players realised they could call me pretty light.
One player called my shove on the river (double-paired board) with Queen high. Admittedly I did announce “Queen high is good”. Maybe that was too much of a clue. People should tell me if they’re going to take my speech play at face value, so I can adjust.
After a reload (or two...) I should have known better, perhaps, than to 4-bet all in against Sam “Light Call” Grafton. Four-high no good vs his monster Ace-Ten.
On to phase two. The club had laid on an incredible $100k bounty tournament in the guise of a £25 freezeout. One of the bounty pros, Andy Achillea, was at my table and he seemed to be playing 0% of hands. I made up for this by playing 100%.
Things might have worked out. Raising in early position with 4-2o and receiving 4 callers, I was allowed to see a free turn after the T-3-6 flop and was pleased to hit a five. The small blind led into me. Perhaps I should just call but, with 2 diamonds out there in a 5way pot, I opted for a raise and took down a moderate pot.
I tried to put the modern “light call” into practice after hitting bottom pair of deuces against one opponent who kept betting. When I called the river and tabled J-2, he nodded “Good call”. He flipped over his hand – 54o – which was all very well, except that he had rivered a low straight that he apparently had not noticed !
A thin value raise with KQ vs AQ on a queen high board saw me slip to about 3,000 chips (starting chips 6,500) but it seemed I had my second chance when I picked up my first genuine hand.
Andy raised (for the first time in the comp) from early position and was called on his left. I simply shoved from the small blind with pocket Queens.
After Andy passed, the other player dwelled but cannot be faulted for believing he was likely ahead with TT. I was good till the river, when a third Ten was enough to knock me out.
I was disappointed, but this did not stop me getting on the PLO list. The game was quickly up and running and a whole host of familiar faces were involved, including the fearless Warya.
Early on, I could not get a start in the game and dropped several buy-ins before deciding to fight fire with fire and pull up £2,000 – by no means the largest stack at the table.
Immediately things take a turn for the better. Picking up Aces with Ace-high clubs, I get involved in a 3-way pot. Unusually it is only £10 to call pre-flop (I limp the £10), but I still manage to get £2,000 in on the turn when I make the nuts. Warya had Kings with King-high clubs, and the other player had a set, missing.
AAQQ next hand stands up in a £1k pot and then I flop the world a couple of times and get paid off by second best hands.
I put together a great run and am soon on over £10k. Warya, naturally pulls up to cover me and there are otehr deep stacks as well.
It is often said that Omaha is a game of making the nuts. Well, this one wasn’t ! Vast pots were won with one pair, and two pair.
I became comfortable with lighter and lighter calls: £300 on the river in a multiway pot with a pair of queens, jack kicker, for example. Or £1,000 with 9s and 4s (two pairs made on turn and river). I was particularly pleased with a winning call with Aces up when I was check-raised to £1,300 on the river with a pair on board.
Having said that, I probably did not value bet/raise sufficiently light for the way the game was.
For example, in one pot I started with Aces and check-called the flop. I check-called the turn, having only improved to a gutshot wheel draw and a draw to an Ace-flush bluff.
On the river I hit my wheel draw and check-called £500 with £800 left, winning against a flopped set. This was a clear error. I was worried that my lowest-possible straight could easily be losing, but in this game it was a clear check-raise or bet-shove.
I really enjoyed the game and I did feel that I made a lot of good decisions throughout the night. However, it is generally the mistakes that stay in the mind.
I remember one pot against a smart aggressive player where I allowed him to bluff me with essentially air after I check-called the flop for £300 and then led for £600 on the turn, to face an £1,800 all-in.
The board showed a possible made straight (which I did not believe he had), and 2 spades (I had none). I was playing an overpair of Kings at this point, with a gutshot, but I was miles ahead of his bottom pair, no draw. I should have gone with my first instinct.
Most memorable of all was a big pot with Warya and Trevor, which might have been truly enormous if I play it differently.
I straddle £5, called by Trevor and the small blind. Warya raises in the BB to £25 total. I call with T-9-7-4r, and now Trevor raises the pot (having limped) to £105 total, leaving less than £200 behind.
SB folds. Warya calls £80 and now I have to call £80, not to crack Trevor;s obvious Aces, but to play the £10k behind that both Warya and I have left.
Flop 9c-8c-3h.
I flop top pair/open-ender with no part of the club draw. I will be happy to put it all in against Trevor here, but the flop is checked around.
Turn: 6d. I make the nuts but my hand cannot improve. Warya checks again and I bet £225 for value. Trevor agonises. He seems to recognise he is losing but eventually he puts in his last £185.
Now, Warya check-raises to £1,080 ....
If I raise now, I can make it £3,500ish and I could face another £7,000 re-raise all-in. Do I want to put in £10k potentially being freerolled ? I’m not sure what to do, and in the end I go for the call as a default option, obviously hoping for a brick on the river.
I don’t think I had really comprehended how few bricks there are on the river ! My hand could be vulnerable to any club (for a flush), any 7, T, J or Q (for a higher straight), or any 3, 6, 8 or 9 (board-pairing cards, of which there may be as many as 11 still in the deck).
The river pairs the 9. Immediately, Warya announces “full pot” which is £2,665.
Now I lost my nerve. It was one of those classic poker moments where you “know” your opponent is bluffing but you still don’t call. In the end, I think it was simply the sheer size of the bet that overwhelmed my better judgement and I found a fold.
Warya showed T-J-5-5 (no club draw) for nines up (effectively playing a pair of fives) and raked the considerable side pot. When I say “showed”, I mean “slammed down and fist-pumped!”.
”Noooooooooo.....”.
Trevor, meanwhile, has had an absolute coup. On the turn he is drawing dead with A-A-7-5. His backhand came in but I had him crushed, and now out of nowhere he picks up the main pot of well over £800 !
A brilliant example of missed opportunity, and a major case of self-tilting.
The game continued for hours and my stack fluctuated between £5k and £9k most of the time, with the whole stack potentially in jeopardy at all times. It was a scary game, but great fun. It was played in a really good spirit by all involved and I felt I was definitely learning something about the nature of “big bet poker”.
It went on so long that my transport plans were thrown into a tailspin. I had driven into London, ostensibly so that I could get home after the last train. When the game extended to breakfast time, that reasoning became moot. It went on so long that I had to move my car to the nearby Hoxton Church car park.
When we eventually finished playing at about 3pm (by mutual exhaustion), I was too tired to risk a long motorway drive so I left my car overnight (sending word to the car park via the ever-helpful Jimi).
I had to make a trip into London the following day to collect it (some 48 hours after I first parked it outside the club). As I was there, I popped in and there was an Omaha game just starting off ....
I made a trip down to The International to play in the $100k bounty tournament, and it turned out to be a great fun night of poker.
First phase was a quick spin in the £1-1 NLH game. I say “spin”, but there is another word that goes after “spin” that is not “up”.
I didn’t have long before the bounty tournament itself, so I was playing “speed poker”. It worked OK some of the time, but a few of the players realised they could call me pretty light.
One player called my shove on the river (double-paired board) with Queen high. Admittedly I did announce “Queen high is good”. Maybe that was too much of a clue. People should tell me if they’re going to take my speech play at face value, so I can adjust.
After a reload (or two...) I should have known better, perhaps, than to 4-bet all in against Sam “Light Call” Grafton. Four-high no good vs his monster Ace-Ten.
On to phase two. The club had laid on an incredible $100k bounty tournament in the guise of a £25 freezeout. One of the bounty pros, Andy Achillea, was at my table and he seemed to be playing 0% of hands. I made up for this by playing 100%.
Things might have worked out. Raising in early position with 4-2o and receiving 4 callers, I was allowed to see a free turn after the T-3-6 flop and was pleased to hit a five. The small blind led into me. Perhaps I should just call but, with 2 diamonds out there in a 5way pot, I opted for a raise and took down a moderate pot.
I tried to put the modern “light call” into practice after hitting bottom pair of deuces against one opponent who kept betting. When I called the river and tabled J-2, he nodded “Good call”. He flipped over his hand – 54o – which was all very well, except that he had rivered a low straight that he apparently had not noticed !
A thin value raise with KQ vs AQ on a queen high board saw me slip to about 3,000 chips (starting chips 6,500) but it seemed I had my second chance when I picked up my first genuine hand.
Andy raised (for the first time in the comp) from early position and was called on his left. I simply shoved from the small blind with pocket Queens.
After Andy passed, the other player dwelled but cannot be faulted for believing he was likely ahead with TT. I was good till the river, when a third Ten was enough to knock me out.
I was disappointed, but this did not stop me getting on the PLO list. The game was quickly up and running and a whole host of familiar faces were involved, including the fearless Warya.
Early on, I could not get a start in the game and dropped several buy-ins before deciding to fight fire with fire and pull up £2,000 – by no means the largest stack at the table.
Immediately things take a turn for the better. Picking up Aces with Ace-high clubs, I get involved in a 3-way pot. Unusually it is only £10 to call pre-flop (I limp the £10), but I still manage to get £2,000 in on the turn when I make the nuts. Warya had Kings with King-high clubs, and the other player had a set, missing.
AAQQ next hand stands up in a £1k pot and then I flop the world a couple of times and get paid off by second best hands.
I put together a great run and am soon on over £10k. Warya, naturally pulls up to cover me and there are otehr deep stacks as well.
It is often said that Omaha is a game of making the nuts. Well, this one wasn’t ! Vast pots were won with one pair, and two pair.
I became comfortable with lighter and lighter calls: £300 on the river in a multiway pot with a pair of queens, jack kicker, for example. Or £1,000 with 9s and 4s (two pairs made on turn and river). I was particularly pleased with a winning call with Aces up when I was check-raised to £1,300 on the river with a pair on board.
Having said that, I probably did not value bet/raise sufficiently light for the way the game was.
For example, in one pot I started with Aces and check-called the flop. I check-called the turn, having only improved to a gutshot wheel draw and a draw to an Ace-flush bluff.
On the river I hit my wheel draw and check-called £500 with £800 left, winning against a flopped set. This was a clear error. I was worried that my lowest-possible straight could easily be losing, but in this game it was a clear check-raise or bet-shove.
I really enjoyed the game and I did feel that I made a lot of good decisions throughout the night. However, it is generally the mistakes that stay in the mind.
I remember one pot against a smart aggressive player where I allowed him to bluff me with essentially air after I check-called the flop for £300 and then led for £600 on the turn, to face an £1,800 all-in.
The board showed a possible made straight (which I did not believe he had), and 2 spades (I had none). I was playing an overpair of Kings at this point, with a gutshot, but I was miles ahead of his bottom pair, no draw. I should have gone with my first instinct.
Most memorable of all was a big pot with Warya and Trevor, which might have been truly enormous if I play it differently.
I straddle £5, called by Trevor and the small blind. Warya raises in the BB to £25 total. I call with T-9-7-4r, and now Trevor raises the pot (having limped) to £105 total, leaving less than £200 behind.
SB folds. Warya calls £80 and now I have to call £80, not to crack Trevor;s obvious Aces, but to play the £10k behind that both Warya and I have left.
Flop 9c-8c-3h.
I flop top pair/open-ender with no part of the club draw. I will be happy to put it all in against Trevor here, but the flop is checked around.
Turn: 6d. I make the nuts but my hand cannot improve. Warya checks again and I bet £225 for value. Trevor agonises. He seems to recognise he is losing but eventually he puts in his last £185.
Now, Warya check-raises to £1,080 ....
If I raise now, I can make it £3,500ish and I could face another £7,000 re-raise all-in. Do I want to put in £10k potentially being freerolled ? I’m not sure what to do, and in the end I go for the call as a default option, obviously hoping for a brick on the river.
I don’t think I had really comprehended how few bricks there are on the river ! My hand could be vulnerable to any club (for a flush), any 7, T, J or Q (for a higher straight), or any 3, 6, 8 or 9 (board-pairing cards, of which there may be as many as 11 still in the deck).
The river pairs the 9. Immediately, Warya announces “full pot” which is £2,665.
Now I lost my nerve. It was one of those classic poker moments where you “know” your opponent is bluffing but you still don’t call. In the end, I think it was simply the sheer size of the bet that overwhelmed my better judgement and I found a fold.
Warya showed T-J-5-5 (no club draw) for nines up (effectively playing a pair of fives) and raked the considerable side pot. When I say “showed”, I mean “slammed down and fist-pumped!”.
”Noooooooooo.....”.
Trevor, meanwhile, has had an absolute coup. On the turn he is drawing dead with A-A-7-5. His backhand came in but I had him crushed, and now out of nowhere he picks up the main pot of well over £800 !
A brilliant example of missed opportunity, and a major case of self-tilting.
The game continued for hours and my stack fluctuated between £5k and £9k most of the time, with the whole stack potentially in jeopardy at all times. It was a scary game, but great fun. It was played in a really good spirit by all involved and I felt I was definitely learning something about the nature of “big bet poker”.
It went on so long that my transport plans were thrown into a tailspin. I had driven into London, ostensibly so that I could get home after the last train. When the game extended to breakfast time, that reasoning became moot. It went on so long that I had to move my car to the nearby Hoxton Church car park.
When we eventually finished playing at about 3pm (by mutual exhaustion), I was too tired to risk a long motorway drive so I left my car overnight (sending word to the car park via the ever-helpful Jimi).
I had to make a trip into London the following day to collect it (some 48 hours after I first parked it outside the club). As I was there, I popped in and there was an Omaha game just starting off ....
Tuesday 3 November 2009
Bounty Hunter
Tonight I shall make another attempt at winning my first tournament at The International Club. I only had to wait one event to score a win at the old Gutshot Club, but at this venue I have final tabled seven times without taking the last, vital step.
It was (and is) one of my poker targets to score a win this year and - in reality - I have less than a handful of attempts left (not counting thumbs or little fingers, either).
I plan to play the £300 at the end of the month, and tonight’s tournament, but that’s probably about it.
We’re going away early for Christmas so I will miss GOSCARs night, and I have never dared to leave the family behind to play the boxing day event !
Sometimes, such pressure has translated into me playing my A-game. With my A-game and a few H-bombs, I always stand a chance.
On the other hand, tonight is a £25 freezeout with a fast structure so although that sort of structure suits me, it is of course a bit of a luckament.
The added sparkle tonight is the bounty element being thrown in by Gutshot.com. $100 each for knocking out any of the 4 named Gutshot pros is a nice freebie, but they’ve also decided to throw in some serious cash in case anyone manages a multiple knockout.
$1,000 for getting two of the blighters. $10k for a hattrick and $100k for the holy grail of a grand slam of knockouts !
Like finding the holy grail, it is widely assumed that this feat is impossible. To be sure, it is so unlikely that it might as well be impossible, but it makes for a great headline !
I was wondering how impossible it is. Difficult to model realistically, but here’s my first and only attempt at it:
So ....... someone has to win the tournament and I will take it as a given that this person will have knocked out four or more players on the way.
This is not certain to be the case of course; theoretically the winner may knock out only the runner-up, but I have to start somewhere. I will further simplify by assuming they knock out exactly four players.
So, assuming a nice amount of randomness and independence and all that good stuff (definitely not true; there are some clear dependencies, but bear with me) then what is the chance that those four are in fact exactly the fantastic four?
This is a bit like playing the tournament with four bounties but only revealing the names upon the opening of a sealed envelope after the event.
Seems to me that this will be of the right order of magnitude.
There will be at least 100 runners tonight, so I will take 100 as a nice round number.
How many combinations of 4 from 100 are there ?
It’s 100!/(4!x96!) I believe, which is about four million to 1 against. It’s got that “million to one shot” about it, so I think it’s a very suitable answer.
The chances of me winning the tournament are definitely better than a million-to-one, so that’s something to feel good about.
Something else that is better than a million-to-1 is the chance of me picking out the winner of the WSOP main event in a sweepstake that is running on the Gutshot forum.
I don’t know who my "pick" is yet, but I think it’s a fair bet that most people reading this would love to see James Akenhead take the big one down. Good luck James !
If best wishes were Aces, then I think he’s due a sick run of cards.
I have a clear hierarchy of favourites (in the sense of who I’d like to see win, not who I think is most likely to win). If it isn’t to be James then I’ll be supporting Steve Begleiter, as we worked together for many years at Bear, Stearns.
I don’t feel any link to any of the other players, so failing these two, I am on the Phil Ivey bandwagon. I support the view that Ivey for WSOP champion is good for poker.
However it finishes, it promises to be a fascinating final table. A whole bunch of people from the club are in Vegas to see it, I know. If James is out first hand, I'm sure they will find something to do !
It was (and is) one of my poker targets to score a win this year and - in reality - I have less than a handful of attempts left (not counting thumbs or little fingers, either).
I plan to play the £300 at the end of the month, and tonight’s tournament, but that’s probably about it.
We’re going away early for Christmas so I will miss GOSCARs night, and I have never dared to leave the family behind to play the boxing day event !
Sometimes, such pressure has translated into me playing my A-game. With my A-game and a few H-bombs, I always stand a chance.
On the other hand, tonight is a £25 freezeout with a fast structure so although that sort of structure suits me, it is of course a bit of a luckament.
The added sparkle tonight is the bounty element being thrown in by Gutshot.com. $100 each for knocking out any of the 4 named Gutshot pros is a nice freebie, but they’ve also decided to throw in some serious cash in case anyone manages a multiple knockout.
$1,000 for getting two of the blighters. $10k for a hattrick and $100k for the holy grail of a grand slam of knockouts !
Like finding the holy grail, it is widely assumed that this feat is impossible. To be sure, it is so unlikely that it might as well be impossible, but it makes for a great headline !
I was wondering how impossible it is. Difficult to model realistically, but here’s my first and only attempt at it:
So ....... someone has to win the tournament and I will take it as a given that this person will have knocked out four or more players on the way.
This is not certain to be the case of course; theoretically the winner may knock out only the runner-up, but I have to start somewhere. I will further simplify by assuming they knock out exactly four players.
So, assuming a nice amount of randomness and independence and all that good stuff (definitely not true; there are some clear dependencies, but bear with me) then what is the chance that those four are in fact exactly the fantastic four?
This is a bit like playing the tournament with four bounties but only revealing the names upon the opening of a sealed envelope after the event.
Seems to me that this will be of the right order of magnitude.
There will be at least 100 runners tonight, so I will take 100 as a nice round number.
How many combinations of 4 from 100 are there ?
It’s 100!/(4!x96!) I believe, which is about four million to 1 against. It’s got that “million to one shot” about it, so I think it’s a very suitable answer.
The chances of me winning the tournament are definitely better than a million-to-one, so that’s something to feel good about.
Something else that is better than a million-to-1 is the chance of me picking out the winner of the WSOP main event in a sweepstake that is running on the Gutshot forum.
I don’t know who my "pick" is yet, but I think it’s a fair bet that most people reading this would love to see James Akenhead take the big one down. Good luck James !
If best wishes were Aces, then I think he’s due a sick run of cards.
I have a clear hierarchy of favourites (in the sense of who I’d like to see win, not who I think is most likely to win). If it isn’t to be James then I’ll be supporting Steve Begleiter, as we worked together for many years at Bear, Stearns.
I don’t feel any link to any of the other players, so failing these two, I am on the Phil Ivey bandwagon. I support the view that Ivey for WSOP champion is good for poker.
However it finishes, it promises to be a fascinating final table. A whole bunch of people from the club are in Vegas to see it, I know. If James is out first hand, I'm sure they will find something to do !
Tuesday 20 October 2009
On Poker and Golf
Many poker-playing readers of this blog will also be at least occasional golfers. Poker and golf have a lot in common.
For a start, they are both sports.
I know that there is debate about whether one of these is actually more of a “game” or a “pastime” than a genuine sport. Nevertheless, I believe that – despite their reputation for drinking, smoking, gambling and a general lack of physical fitness – golfers are still genuine sportsmen.
In any event, there are a great many commonalities in the experience of playing these two great games.
In both, the player benefits tremendously from experience and practice. For that reason they are also both sports that one can play credibly at an advanced age with the years of practice mitigating the loss of vigour.
Poker and golf offer a huge amount of material available to the player to further his/her game.
In both cases, the average player totally fails to take full advantage of the resources available and should undoubtedly study more and play less.
In poker there was already a wealth of books magazines and software tools available, and now there are online coaching videos and even one-to-one coaching. Unlike golf coaching, this can be achieved in the warm and dry over an internet link.
I wouldn’t argue that in poker one can gain much advantage by purchasing superior equipment – a difference from the golf parallel. Of course, some believe their latest iPod, ridiculously expensive noise-cancelling headphones and designer sunglasses are vital poker aids, so maybe I am wrong about this.
Both games constantly serve up disappointment but they also offer enough glimpses of glory to keep the player coming back for constant punishment.
In golf, we struggle round with a mix of pulled drives, thinned wedges, missed putts short, long, left and right and then suddenly on the 14th fairway we unexpectedly connect with a 5-wood from the semi-rough, catch a kind bounce and a favourable run and incredibly our ball finishes 6 feet from the hole for a miracle birdie chance.
It sometimes doesn’t even matter if we now miss the putt. Our faith in the game is restored and will carry us for weeks to come.
Likewise in poker we endure a constant diet of bad beats and poor finishes and most likely a steady drain on our bankroll until suddenly one night we make a final table or pull off some miraculous squeeze or river bluff check-raise or make a supreme winning call with King-high and suddenly we’re Phil Ivey all over again.
I think we ultimately remember the highs more than the lows, although I have never lost a WSOP bracelet heads up when my opponent 4-bet shoved with T4o and flopped a full house !
Poker is probably unique in the extent to which our own perception of our ability is correlated to results on such a short timescale, and it must offer one of the highest love-hate factors of any activity.
There are differences of course. Both can be played and enjoyed by beginners, but only poker offers the ultimate level playing field and – yes – that first-timer no-hoper may beat the entire field on the day. It does happen. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve even been that no-hoper.
And, for now anyway, poker (unlike golf) has not been granted Olympic status.
Quadruple crown anyone ? WSOP-WPT-EPT-Gold Medal .... it is absolutely no less ridiculous than tennis at the Olympics in my opinion !
What is the ultimate in either sport for the keen amateur ? Is a WSOP bracelet the equivalent of a hole in one ?
Well, whatever the doubts about the quality of my poker game I know for a fact that I am a better poker player than a golfer and yet I have actually achieved a hole in one. That took me only slightly more than 25 years to achieve but I’d be happy to wait the full 21 more years if I can have the bracelet .... just one time ....
For a start, they are both sports.
I know that there is debate about whether one of these is actually more of a “game” or a “pastime” than a genuine sport. Nevertheless, I believe that – despite their reputation for drinking, smoking, gambling and a general lack of physical fitness – golfers are still genuine sportsmen.
In any event, there are a great many commonalities in the experience of playing these two great games.
In both, the player benefits tremendously from experience and practice. For that reason they are also both sports that one can play credibly at an advanced age with the years of practice mitigating the loss of vigour.
Poker and golf offer a huge amount of material available to the player to further his/her game.
In both cases, the average player totally fails to take full advantage of the resources available and should undoubtedly study more and play less.
In poker there was already a wealth of books magazines and software tools available, and now there are online coaching videos and even one-to-one coaching. Unlike golf coaching, this can be achieved in the warm and dry over an internet link.
I wouldn’t argue that in poker one can gain much advantage by purchasing superior equipment – a difference from the golf parallel. Of course, some believe their latest iPod, ridiculously expensive noise-cancelling headphones and designer sunglasses are vital poker aids, so maybe I am wrong about this.
Both games constantly serve up disappointment but they also offer enough glimpses of glory to keep the player coming back for constant punishment.
In golf, we struggle round with a mix of pulled drives, thinned wedges, missed putts short, long, left and right and then suddenly on the 14th fairway we unexpectedly connect with a 5-wood from the semi-rough, catch a kind bounce and a favourable run and incredibly our ball finishes 6 feet from the hole for a miracle birdie chance.
It sometimes doesn’t even matter if we now miss the putt. Our faith in the game is restored and will carry us for weeks to come.
Likewise in poker we endure a constant diet of bad beats and poor finishes and most likely a steady drain on our bankroll until suddenly one night we make a final table or pull off some miraculous squeeze or river bluff check-raise or make a supreme winning call with King-high and suddenly we’re Phil Ivey all over again.
I think we ultimately remember the highs more than the lows, although I have never lost a WSOP bracelet heads up when my opponent 4-bet shoved with T4o and flopped a full house !
Poker is probably unique in the extent to which our own perception of our ability is correlated to results on such a short timescale, and it must offer one of the highest love-hate factors of any activity.
There are differences of course. Both can be played and enjoyed by beginners, but only poker offers the ultimate level playing field and – yes – that first-timer no-hoper may beat the entire field on the day. It does happen. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve even been that no-hoper.
And, for now anyway, poker (unlike golf) has not been granted Olympic status.
Quadruple crown anyone ? WSOP-WPT-EPT-Gold Medal .... it is absolutely no less ridiculous than tennis at the Olympics in my opinion !
What is the ultimate in either sport for the keen amateur ? Is a WSOP bracelet the equivalent of a hole in one ?
Well, whatever the doubts about the quality of my poker game I know for a fact that I am a better poker player than a golfer and yet I have actually achieved a hole in one. That took me only slightly more than 25 years to achieve but I’d be happy to wait the full 21 more years if I can have the bracelet .... just one time ....
Thursday 8 October 2009
Mixed Results
Blog for the EPT 8-game is best read on the gutshot blog section as it's a bit long for this layout:
http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/blog.php?b=667
http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/blog.php?b=667
Monday 5 October 2009
Mixed Fortunes ?
Tomorrow I plan to play in what might well be the last live tournament of the year for me.
It's the EPT London festival at the moment. The EPT (European Poker Tour) has been a roaring success since it was conceived just a few years ago.
I'm not playing the actual EPT main event itself (which, this year, turned out to be the biggest ever tournament staged in the UK). The event was way too expensive at £5,250. I did have a half-hearted attempt at qualification, but without troubling the scorers.
Like all these large events, there is a whole raft of side events - eg: a £1,000 NLH today - but in fact the event I picked out weeks ago is the European 8-Game Championships (£500).
"8 game" is a bit like HORSE in that it is a mixed game - several different poker disciplines played in rotation. The 8 games are (I think !)... the HORSE games (Limit Hold'em, Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8-or-better, Limit Razz, Limit Seven Card Stud and Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or-better) PLUS No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha and Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw (played as a limit game, I believe).
It's mad really !
There was a £2k version of the same tournament last week - Joe Hachem (2005 WSOP Main Event winner) won it. I imagine it was a field solely comprised of high-stakes pros to be honest.
I am not quite sure who will play the £500. On the one hand there are people like me who like the mixed games but are not wiling to shell out £2k. On the other hand, some of the big names probably cannot be bothered to play for the £500 stakes. And we are drawing to the end of the massive season of festivals in London, so quite a few pros that are not still in the EPT will have started to head home.
There were 60 runners for the £2k event. I suppose on balance I would expect a similar number for the £500, but who knows !
I've continued to play a few HORSE tournies on pokerstars - I cashed in one last night (24th, the lowest paying place in fact: made a bad call in Razz) - so I feel I just about know those games.
Obviously I know NLH and PLO although I cannot quite get my head around how they gel with the limit rounds. This leaves "triple draw". I have never played this, so I am reading up on it in Super-System 2. Daniel Negreanu wrote the chapter, so hopefully it is intelligible.
Overall strategy wise, I am thinking I may go for super-tight. Despite the presence of NLH and PLO in the rotation, the event is primarily a limit event and I know it is right to play very tight in limit tournaments.
Presumably the structure is OK (it's a 2day event), so I reckon I need to really go out of my way to play extremely tight (but aggressively when I have a hand).
I think the 2nd best choice might be very loose (and hope to get lucky), but I'm going to try very hard to bite the bullet and become the H-rock. Tight players can get lucky as well, after all !
It's the EPT London festival at the moment. The EPT (European Poker Tour) has been a roaring success since it was conceived just a few years ago.
I'm not playing the actual EPT main event itself (which, this year, turned out to be the biggest ever tournament staged in the UK). The event was way too expensive at £5,250. I did have a half-hearted attempt at qualification, but without troubling the scorers.
Like all these large events, there is a whole raft of side events - eg: a £1,000 NLH today - but in fact the event I picked out weeks ago is the European 8-Game Championships (£500).
"8 game" is a bit like HORSE in that it is a mixed game - several different poker disciplines played in rotation. The 8 games are (I think !)... the HORSE games (Limit Hold'em, Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8-or-better, Limit Razz, Limit Seven Card Stud and Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or-better) PLUS No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha and Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw (played as a limit game, I believe).
It's mad really !
There was a £2k version of the same tournament last week - Joe Hachem (2005 WSOP Main Event winner) won it. I imagine it was a field solely comprised of high-stakes pros to be honest.
I am not quite sure who will play the £500. On the one hand there are people like me who like the mixed games but are not wiling to shell out £2k. On the other hand, some of the big names probably cannot be bothered to play for the £500 stakes. And we are drawing to the end of the massive season of festivals in London, so quite a few pros that are not still in the EPT will have started to head home.
There were 60 runners for the £2k event. I suppose on balance I would expect a similar number for the £500, but who knows !
I've continued to play a few HORSE tournies on pokerstars - I cashed in one last night (24th, the lowest paying place in fact: made a bad call in Razz) - so I feel I just about know those games.
Obviously I know NLH and PLO although I cannot quite get my head around how they gel with the limit rounds. This leaves "triple draw". I have never played this, so I am reading up on it in Super-System 2. Daniel Negreanu wrote the chapter, so hopefully it is intelligible.
Overall strategy wise, I am thinking I may go for super-tight. Despite the presence of NLH and PLO in the rotation, the event is primarily a limit event and I know it is right to play very tight in limit tournaments.
Presumably the structure is OK (it's a 2day event), so I reckon I need to really go out of my way to play extremely tight (but aggressively when I have a hand).
I think the 2nd best choice might be very loose (and hope to get lucky), but I'm going to try very hard to bite the bullet and become the H-rock. Tight players can get lucky as well, after all !
Thursday 1 October 2009
And Finally
I played in the £1,000 NLH event at the WSOPE (E for Europe) recently, which I felt was worth a punt, but I never intended to tackle the main event (£10,000 entry) which has just moved to the final table stage at Day 4.
Ironically, it will of course finish (today) more than a month earlier than the final of the WSOP Main Event itself from the Vegas series due to the TV-inspired 3month+ break in that tournament.
There are clear differences in the two events; the most striking of course is the difference in the field size although at ~400, the European Main Event was not remotely small for such an enormous buy-in [the WSOP main event had about 6,500 entrants this year].
The other difference, I would say, was the quality of the starting field. It was absolutely packed with high profile players and it seems like the whole of the global elite of poker is spending the entire autumn in and around London, with so many key events being staged. The EPT festival is already underway in fact whilst the WSOPE has not yet finished.
The intense starting field has led to an insanely talented final table.
http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/showthread.php?t=33588
I previously mentioned that I have two "interests" at the November final table. It promises to be a fascinating encounter with Phil Ivey in the mix, but I will of course mainly be following both James Akenhead (Gutshot heritage, and "I know him" factor) and of course Steve Begleiter (Bear Stearns veteran).
The incredible thing is that James Akenhead has made the final table of the WSOPE Main Event as well. What is more, another player (Antoine Souat) has also made both final tables.
It's an amazing feat on both their parts. To top it, one of them could go on to win both titles I suppose which would very probably be an achievement never to be repeated. In fact, if either James or Antoine were to take this title then it's safe to assume that it will be a gift to Harrah's and ESPN in time for the November coverage.
James' stock - already very bullish with his 2nd place in WSOP Event#2 last year, November 9 this year and Full Tilt pro deal - must be absolutely through the roof here.
Ironically, it will of course finish (today) more than a month earlier than the final of the WSOP Main Event itself from the Vegas series due to the TV-inspired 3month+ break in that tournament.
There are clear differences in the two events; the most striking of course is the difference in the field size although at ~400, the European Main Event was not remotely small for such an enormous buy-in [the WSOP main event had about 6,500 entrants this year].
The other difference, I would say, was the quality of the starting field. It was absolutely packed with high profile players and it seems like the whole of the global elite of poker is spending the entire autumn in and around London, with so many key events being staged. The EPT festival is already underway in fact whilst the WSOPE has not yet finished.
The intense starting field has led to an insanely talented final table.
http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/showthread.php?t=33588
I previously mentioned that I have two "interests" at the November final table. It promises to be a fascinating encounter with Phil Ivey in the mix, but I will of course mainly be following both James Akenhead (Gutshot heritage, and "I know him" factor) and of course Steve Begleiter (Bear Stearns veteran).
The incredible thing is that James Akenhead has made the final table of the WSOPE Main Event as well. What is more, another player (Antoine Souat) has also made both final tables.
It's an amazing feat on both their parts. To top it, one of them could go on to win both titles I suppose which would very probably be an achievement never to be repeated. In fact, if either James or Antoine were to take this title then it's safe to assume that it will be a gift to Harrah's and ESPN in time for the November coverage.
James' stock - already very bullish with his 2nd place in WSOP Event#2 last year, November 9 this year and Full Tilt pro deal - must be absolutely through the roof here.
The eX-post
I suspect a lot of regular readers of the poker actually blog were surprised to find The ex-Files post here which had next to nothing to do with poker (the word "poker" was used in it, but that is about it).
It has been moved to the Tales from number 54 blog in case you were wondering.
http://hvsmith2.blogspot.com/2009/10/ex-files.html
It has been moved to the Tales from number 54 blog in case you were wondering.
http://hvsmith2.blogspot.com/2009/10/ex-files.html
Wednesday 30 September 2009
Good Read
Am I a good player ? It’s a question I often ask myself.
Occasionally the question is put to me although, thinking about the conversations that poker players have, they rarely ask about the other person as such. Mostly each player talks about themselves, whether consciously or otherwise !
Back to the question.
It’s not easy to answer. One way to tackle the question, of course, is to look at whether I am winning. Even this is not trivial as, sadly, my records are pretty poor.
I do have excellent records for my Las Vegas trips and in fact my 2009 visit was so profitable that it puts me clearly in the black for the aggregate of those visits over the years. Previously I have had mixed results in Vegas due to my failure to cash in large tournaments.
In 2009, I successfully addressed the tournament problem and I was also profitable in cash (and sponsorship !)
Equally clear is that I am a loser at online poker. I know this because I am much more familiar with deposit methods than withdrawal procedures.
This is the overall result, but it’s actually a game of two halves. I have definitely been a loser in cash, but I have almost certainly been a solid winner at online MTTs.
In live (non-Vegas) games, the lack of good data prevents me from making a definitive statement. Of course, if a poker player is “not sure” whether s/he is up or down then it is in fact a safe bet that s/he is losing.
I have the same problem in live UK play as I previously had in Vegas: lots of high-priced tournaments with no significant cashes. In smaller buy-in tournaments I am slightly ahead. In cash, somewhat down.
In terms of objective evidence the available data is, in fact, fairly encouraging. The latest data for me at OPR (officialpokerrankings.com) say that I above the 99th percentile for tournament players on pokerstars and also confirms I am profitable with a strong ROI%.
Sharkscope covers tournaments on Gutshot.com (Cake network), and I am classified as a “shark” with strong statistics again.
There are other sites that track tournament data and I am in good shape on all of them.
I don’t look at the products that offer cash-tracking but I know they would confirm I am a fish. The problem is patience. In many non-poker situations I am actually a very patient person, but I simply have not found a way to convert this attitude into cash play.
This goes for both online and live play, but the problem is severe in internet play. Live, there are other factors that can mitigate my natural tendencies, but online a lack of patience is rarely less than fatal to the bankroll.
Outside of the objective data, I do feel subjectively that I am a better player than ever. There is no doubt in my mind that I have learned a lot about the game since I started about 4 years ago. To be sure, I could have (and probably should have) learned even more by being more disciplined in the actual study of the game.
My approach has been mainly of the “Learn by Doing” school which I favour in most endeavours.
It is of course difficult to quantify any improvements in my game (although, on the publicly tracked stats the improvement is visible: OPR 48% in 2007, 56% in 2008, 99%+ in 2009). It has not been translated into clear gains in my bankroll but this is at least partly explained by the fact that I migrate upwards in stakes at least as fast as any improvement in my game.
I like to think that if I had to make a living from poker, I would have enough skill to do that. Of course the problem is that to do this would involve playing a rather dull game.
I would need to play much lower stakes, and really focus on issues like good game selection and correct bankroll management. All of these necessary steps would, with certainty, lead to a more boring game. This would be a problem.
A number of people over the years have suggested that the best approach for me would actually be to go UP in stakes to a level where the money involved would be more meaningful for me. I think there actually is some merit in this advice although I have generally been reluctant to do so since it’s far from obvious that being a small loser at low stakes means I will win at high stakes !
If it’s difficult to be sure how good I am, and difficult to prove or measure, I have nonetheless had glimpses of what it must be like. For the most part when I am playing, I think I am slightly above average (say a 70% percentile player) but I have sometimes been in situations where I am clearly the best player.
I am thinking of an invitational £50 rebuy I played last year, of the cruise poker I played this summer and of certain MTT tables on gutshot.com. For short periods, I have understood what it feels like to KNOW that you are better than most (or even all) of the other players and to experience the wonder of reading the opponents as if, in fact, their cards were face up and they had informed you of their exact intentions in the hand.
I suppose it must be like this for the top pros all the time !
Occasionally the question is put to me although, thinking about the conversations that poker players have, they rarely ask about the other person as such. Mostly each player talks about themselves, whether consciously or otherwise !
Back to the question.
It’s not easy to answer. One way to tackle the question, of course, is to look at whether I am winning. Even this is not trivial as, sadly, my records are pretty poor.
I do have excellent records for my Las Vegas trips and in fact my 2009 visit was so profitable that it puts me clearly in the black for the aggregate of those visits over the years. Previously I have had mixed results in Vegas due to my failure to cash in large tournaments.
In 2009, I successfully addressed the tournament problem and I was also profitable in cash (and sponsorship !)
Equally clear is that I am a loser at online poker. I know this because I am much more familiar with deposit methods than withdrawal procedures.
This is the overall result, but it’s actually a game of two halves. I have definitely been a loser in cash, but I have almost certainly been a solid winner at online MTTs.
In live (non-Vegas) games, the lack of good data prevents me from making a definitive statement. Of course, if a poker player is “not sure” whether s/he is up or down then it is in fact a safe bet that s/he is losing.
I have the same problem in live UK play as I previously had in Vegas: lots of high-priced tournaments with no significant cashes. In smaller buy-in tournaments I am slightly ahead. In cash, somewhat down.
In terms of objective evidence the available data is, in fact, fairly encouraging. The latest data for me at OPR (officialpokerrankings.com) say that I above the 99th percentile for tournament players on pokerstars and also confirms I am profitable with a strong ROI%.
Sharkscope covers tournaments on Gutshot.com (Cake network), and I am classified as a “shark” with strong statistics again.
There are other sites that track tournament data and I am in good shape on all of them.
I don’t look at the products that offer cash-tracking but I know they would confirm I am a fish. The problem is patience. In many non-poker situations I am actually a very patient person, but I simply have not found a way to convert this attitude into cash play.
This goes for both online and live play, but the problem is severe in internet play. Live, there are other factors that can mitigate my natural tendencies, but online a lack of patience is rarely less than fatal to the bankroll.
Outside of the objective data, I do feel subjectively that I am a better player than ever. There is no doubt in my mind that I have learned a lot about the game since I started about 4 years ago. To be sure, I could have (and probably should have) learned even more by being more disciplined in the actual study of the game.
My approach has been mainly of the “Learn by Doing” school which I favour in most endeavours.
It is of course difficult to quantify any improvements in my game (although, on the publicly tracked stats the improvement is visible: OPR 48% in 2007, 56% in 2008, 99%+ in 2009). It has not been translated into clear gains in my bankroll but this is at least partly explained by the fact that I migrate upwards in stakes at least as fast as any improvement in my game.
I like to think that if I had to make a living from poker, I would have enough skill to do that. Of course the problem is that to do this would involve playing a rather dull game.
I would need to play much lower stakes, and really focus on issues like good game selection and correct bankroll management. All of these necessary steps would, with certainty, lead to a more boring game. This would be a problem.
A number of people over the years have suggested that the best approach for me would actually be to go UP in stakes to a level where the money involved would be more meaningful for me. I think there actually is some merit in this advice although I have generally been reluctant to do so since it’s far from obvious that being a small loser at low stakes means I will win at high stakes !
If it’s difficult to be sure how good I am, and difficult to prove or measure, I have nonetheless had glimpses of what it must be like. For the most part when I am playing, I think I am slightly above average (say a 70% percentile player) but I have sometimes been in situations where I am clearly the best player.
I am thinking of an invitational £50 rebuy I played last year, of the cruise poker I played this summer and of certain MTT tables on gutshot.com. For short periods, I have understood what it feels like to KNOW that you are better than most (or even all) of the other players and to experience the wonder of reading the opponents as if, in fact, their cards were face up and they had informed you of their exact intentions in the hand.
I suppose it must be like this for the top pros all the time !
Sunday 20 September 2009
WSOPE £1000 NLH
After initially putting this event on my calendar, then thinking I would give it a miss (various reasons including a fairly unanimous view among players that it is bad "value" as a tournament), I flip-flopped back to the "yes" camp.
Diary-wise, it fitted in somewhat nicely with the birthday celebrations at The International the night before. Karen & I stayed at a hotel on Friday night and I was booked in for Saturday night as well.
The Friday night was good fun at the club. In the random tag teams event, I was paired with JJ. The tag structure had the effect of tightening up my play (even though I hardly had to worry about JJ being unused to the loose approach). JJ presumably did not react in the same way as his early position push with A7 was snapped off by Andy Achillea's AQ.
I took a fairly early retreat from the cash games (lively: some highlights included me calling India's all-in check raise on a Jack high flop with my J-9o. I had 4-bet the pot pre-flop. My top pair was good. I imagine India had a hand like 88. Lowlights: check-raising all-in on Axx flop with 63o and failing to get A-8 to fold).
The Empire was busy, no question. The poor structure had obviously not been enough to counteract the positive halo effect of a WSOP bracelet on offer. About 300 (capacity, basically) had played on day 1A with the same number again there for 1B.
Plenty of faces on show. I did not recognise anyone at my own table, although they all struck me as pretty experienced players. At the next two tables, I spotted Chris Ferguson, sitting next to John Juanda and Barney Boatman (who lasted about 20 minutes). There were some other faces that looked vaguely familiar.
Although 3,000 chips was plainly far too few, the blinds did start at a helpful 25/25 (maybe they changed this under protest from the players because the posted schedule certainly said 25/50) and the 1 hour clock was respectable.
After winning and losing a few very small pots, I found myself in a difficult place after getting too committed with top pair and the nut flush draw, losing out to a full house (did not see that coming at all).
Tournaments are often about "what if" so in this case, I can wonder "what if" I had not limped with Aces in level 1. Actually not that much would have changed, probably. As it turned out I lost a small pot when 4 diamonds came (I had none) and I paid off a small bet on the river.
Having lost some chips, I thought my way back may have come in the shape of pocket Kings.
Two callers pre flop, and then they both called on the Ace high flop. The pot was now checked to the river where I lost to A3. So, what if I bet bigger pre-flop? Or bigger on the flop, or if I fire the turn or river as well ? My feeling was that I did not have enough chips to shake off the flopped Ace.
In any case, the result was that I had no real room to move until in the 3rd level my stack had reduced to 15BB. Obviously now I was waiting for a good re-shove opportunity. It came soon. The button, who had just won a big pot, opened to 300 at 50/100 and with AQ on the big blind and 1,550 chips it was an automatic all-in.
The player seemed hesitant about calling despite his decent 9k stack. This seemed a good sign. "Ace-Ten" someone volunteered, having apparently played with the raiser earlier. "Yes please" I thought, but it was pocket Tens.
Still, I was happy to take a race. Unfortunately a Ten on the flop cut short my hopes. They were briefly rekindled by a King on the turn, but there was no miracle Jack on the river.
So, a rather brief stint - a little less than 3 hours - although about 100 players had already exited in this short period. The rapid elimination of players did mean that those who did survive the first few levels quickly went deep into the tournament. In fact, they had to stop play early on day1a to prevent the money bubble bursting on day 1 !
Next time ..... although I am not sure I will play any more live tournaments this year.
Diary-wise, it fitted in somewhat nicely with the birthday celebrations at The International the night before. Karen & I stayed at a hotel on Friday night and I was booked in for Saturday night as well.
The Friday night was good fun at the club. In the random tag teams event, I was paired with JJ. The tag structure had the effect of tightening up my play (even though I hardly had to worry about JJ being unused to the loose approach). JJ presumably did not react in the same way as his early position push with A7 was snapped off by Andy Achillea's AQ.
I took a fairly early retreat from the cash games (lively: some highlights included me calling India's all-in check raise on a Jack high flop with my J-9o. I had 4-bet the pot pre-flop. My top pair was good. I imagine India had a hand like 88. Lowlights: check-raising all-in on Axx flop with 63o and failing to get A-8 to fold).
The Empire was busy, no question. The poor structure had obviously not been enough to counteract the positive halo effect of a WSOP bracelet on offer. About 300 (capacity, basically) had played on day 1A with the same number again there for 1B.
Plenty of faces on show. I did not recognise anyone at my own table, although they all struck me as pretty experienced players. At the next two tables, I spotted Chris Ferguson, sitting next to John Juanda and Barney Boatman (who lasted about 20 minutes). There were some other faces that looked vaguely familiar.
Although 3,000 chips was plainly far too few, the blinds did start at a helpful 25/25 (maybe they changed this under protest from the players because the posted schedule certainly said 25/50) and the 1 hour clock was respectable.
After winning and losing a few very small pots, I found myself in a difficult place after getting too committed with top pair and the nut flush draw, losing out to a full house (did not see that coming at all).
Tournaments are often about "what if" so in this case, I can wonder "what if" I had not limped with Aces in level 1. Actually not that much would have changed, probably. As it turned out I lost a small pot when 4 diamonds came (I had none) and I paid off a small bet on the river.
Having lost some chips, I thought my way back may have come in the shape of pocket Kings.
Two callers pre flop, and then they both called on the Ace high flop. The pot was now checked to the river where I lost to A3. So, what if I bet bigger pre-flop? Or bigger on the flop, or if I fire the turn or river as well ? My feeling was that I did not have enough chips to shake off the flopped Ace.
In any case, the result was that I had no real room to move until in the 3rd level my stack had reduced to 15BB. Obviously now I was waiting for a good re-shove opportunity. It came soon. The button, who had just won a big pot, opened to 300 at 50/100 and with AQ on the big blind and 1,550 chips it was an automatic all-in.
The player seemed hesitant about calling despite his decent 9k stack. This seemed a good sign. "Ace-Ten" someone volunteered, having apparently played with the raiser earlier. "Yes please" I thought, but it was pocket Tens.
Still, I was happy to take a race. Unfortunately a Ten on the flop cut short my hopes. They were briefly rekindled by a King on the turn, but there was no miracle Jack on the river.
So, a rather brief stint - a little less than 3 hours - although about 100 players had already exited in this short period. The rapid elimination of players did mean that those who did survive the first few levels quickly went deep into the tournament. In fact, they had to stop play early on day1a to prevent the money bubble bursting on day 1 !
Next time ..... although I am not sure I will play any more live tournaments this year.
Wednesday 16 September 2009
PSOP £1,000 Main Event
My attempts to satellite into the main event were ultimately rather expensive and unsuccessful. I made a fairly deep run in the £50 rebuy satellite (not right near the bubble, but I was getting there). Then, when I open-pushed from the small blind with A7, the BB called for half his stack with QTs. I thought that was a little bit surprising, but he hit the Queen and that’s that.
So, onto the main event itself. I arrived slightly late (some traffic issues), and I had already been moved. A good thing too, as my first table draw looked absolutely fearsome.
12,000 chips and a 75 minute clock. Play was scheduled for 3 days. I knew that patience had to be the watchword. I was playing extremely cautiously, but soon a real gift presented itself.
A player on my immediate right open-raised in EP to 225 (blinds 25/50). I find the rockets. I decided on a raise to 725, called my Martin Spearing on my left. Folded back to the original raiser, who now makes it 2,325. I have a choice to make.
Normally, I do not mess around and would put in the next raise. But here I felt that this would really be turning my hand over, and that the player would get away from some very strong hands. Of course, he ought to have a very strong hand anyway but on the whole it seemed like flatting here could be the best line.
We see a flop heads-up: 7-high rainbow. On this flop I think I must be 100% safe as he surely cannot hit a set there. He leads for 2,300 and I opt for a small raise to 5,500. Villain now helpfully shoves. Of course I snap call, to be shown pocket 9s (??)
Up to 24,000 or so in the first level. I know my mission now is not to blow these gifted chips and I actually spend some time away from the table. Partly this was an effort to force myself not to splash around, and partly I was simply trying to get my internet connection working. The wireless connection in the club is a source of repeated frustration for me. This time I even brought a broadband dongle as an alternate connection, to no avail.
Sad to say, after a couple of hours of being very parsimonious with my chips, I could not help myself from getting involved. There wasn’t any single incident, but my stack gradually dwindled as a combination of some light calls (eg: I called with 2nd pair on a board that looked like it contained a lot of missed draws; villain showed up with Kings full !!) and some moves that did not work out.
In both cases, I am not sure whether they were hopeless plays or whether they were only slightly off in timing/opponent etc. There was one particular pot I recall where I have re-raised pre-flop from the SB with no hand and led out on a raggy flop. I get almost limit re-raised and I let it go. I am wondering in hindsight whether I could have put in another bluff raise at this point (still leaving chips behind). Or it may have been that he really had the goods.
The net result was that I found myself rather short-stacked. In fact at the 100/200/25 level I had only 4,500 chips left at one point.
Now, rather too late, I came to my senses and realised that with the structure (both the gradual escalation of blinds, and the 75minute clock) I could be very patient about choosing my spots.
So, rocked up, I hung in the tournament for many more hours. I rarely put my chips in and I was only looked up once (I got a bit lucky to survive). I raised from the cut-off with AJs, hoping that Richard Gryko on my left (also short stacked, but covering me) would shove and I could call.
He did raise, but ominously he made a smaller raise to about half my chips. I didn’t like that too much but I thought “FIP” and pushed the rest in. He snap-called with pocket Jacks, but an Ace on the flop saw me double up and Richard down to <> 100k chips on day2.
I continued to survive, and the field thinned out. Obviously my short stack was becoming ever shorter relative to the average. I was not worried about this. Nor was I worried about the prospect of perhaps surviving to come back with a bowl of rice on Day2. Since I was already committed to being around at the club for a few days, there were no issues of “double up or go home”.
Still, I would need a series of double ups eventually. I continued to be very tight in calling (in fact I don’t remember calling at all). My blinds were very much up for grabs.
Eventually, we reached the last level of the day 300/600/50 and I had around 6,500 chips – probably the shortest stack of the field. I was surprised that about 2/3 of the runners had already exited.
I pushed several times in this level, but always as the first into the pot and always with some kind of hand. Normally I will push with literally any two cards but then we are not normally playing a 75minute clock !
Of course during this period I passed some hands that would have trebled me up, as it turns out. C’est la vie.
Finally my stack fell below 10bb and now I had a stroke of luck. UTG with 4,900 I picked up 63s.
It was obvious to everyone that I was playing very tight so with the prospect of the blinds about to come through, I felt that I should have enough image equity to get this one through. I pushed (my very first push without a respectable hand) and found a pretty quick caller in Richard Mackay just a two seats along.
That was the bad news. The good news is that no one else called and I had to hope I was looking at live cards. Indeed I was – AQ suited for Richard. Unfortunately, the same suit as me.
A three came just in time, on the river. I now had over 10k – as much as I had for literally 6 or 7 hours.
One more double up would see me in reasonable shape.
I passed my blinds, and now made a possible error and definitely a critical hand. Action folded to me on the button with A2. My stack is about 16BB.
Normally I would be insta-shoving with Ace-high on the button with this short(ish) stack. Here, I hesitated. My stack is somewhat above the real shove-or-die zone and of course the structure is not remotely a crapshoot.
But, then, the two players behind me are very tight and Ace-high is likely the best hand. I can pick up 1,300 chips. I shove and receive an immediate call in the BB – Richard Mackay again.
He has woken up with pocket Kings. Now is the time to find that Ace ! It doesn’t come, and I am basically out although not before there is nearly a final twist.
I have 875 chips change (1 big blind and a few antes). We know what CAN happen. Next hand, 87 is enough to throw the chips in. Ade Bayo has already limped and two others come along.
The flop is T43 . Ade bets, to leave us heads up. He turns over Aces ! However, I hit runner J-9 for a straight ! With over 3,000 chips now, can I keep the dream alive ?
Shortly afterwards I am in the Big Blind with A9 facing a raise from India on the button. I put the rest in, and am ahead of KQ. In fact I hit Top Pair, Top kicker on the 9 high board. However, a Queen on the turn finally does shut the door 15 minutes before the close of play.
I know it’s irrational, but I would have really liked to make day 2. You do have to be “in it to win it” and although I broke my day 2 duck at the WSOP this year, I am still waiting for a day2 in any UK event.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and in hindsight I see that I probably could have cruised into day 2 if I had taken better care of my 25k stack in level 1. There weren’t any massive coolers or outdraws to blame. Instead, it was a failure to recognise the dynamics of such a long tournament. I made the same mistake in the WSOP ME.
My hope is that I have learned something from these mistakes. I do notice that of the tournament objectives I have set myself, I am gradually achieving some of them and getting every closer to others. I can’t wait for the next festival to try out my new patient style !
So, onto the main event itself. I arrived slightly late (some traffic issues), and I had already been moved. A good thing too, as my first table draw looked absolutely fearsome.
12,000 chips and a 75 minute clock. Play was scheduled for 3 days. I knew that patience had to be the watchword. I was playing extremely cautiously, but soon a real gift presented itself.
A player on my immediate right open-raised in EP to 225 (blinds 25/50). I find the rockets. I decided on a raise to 725, called my Martin Spearing on my left. Folded back to the original raiser, who now makes it 2,325. I have a choice to make.
Normally, I do not mess around and would put in the next raise. But here I felt that this would really be turning my hand over, and that the player would get away from some very strong hands. Of course, he ought to have a very strong hand anyway but on the whole it seemed like flatting here could be the best line.
We see a flop heads-up: 7-high rainbow. On this flop I think I must be 100% safe as he surely cannot hit a set there. He leads for 2,300 and I opt for a small raise to 5,500. Villain now helpfully shoves. Of course I snap call, to be shown pocket 9s (??)
Up to 24,000 or so in the first level. I know my mission now is not to blow these gifted chips and I actually spend some time away from the table. Partly this was an effort to force myself not to splash around, and partly I was simply trying to get my internet connection working. The wireless connection in the club is a source of repeated frustration for me. This time I even brought a broadband dongle as an alternate connection, to no avail.
Sad to say, after a couple of hours of being very parsimonious with my chips, I could not help myself from getting involved. There wasn’t any single incident, but my stack gradually dwindled as a combination of some light calls (eg: I called with 2nd pair on a board that looked like it contained a lot of missed draws; villain showed up with Kings full !!) and some moves that did not work out.
In both cases, I am not sure whether they were hopeless plays or whether they were only slightly off in timing/opponent etc. There was one particular pot I recall where I have re-raised pre-flop from the SB with no hand and led out on a raggy flop. I get almost limit re-raised and I let it go. I am wondering in hindsight whether I could have put in another bluff raise at this point (still leaving chips behind). Or it may have been that he really had the goods.
The net result was that I found myself rather short-stacked. In fact at the 100/200/25 level I had only 4,500 chips left at one point.
Now, rather too late, I came to my senses and realised that with the structure (both the gradual escalation of blinds, and the 75minute clock) I could be very patient about choosing my spots.
So, rocked up, I hung in the tournament for many more hours. I rarely put my chips in and I was only looked up once (I got a bit lucky to survive). I raised from the cut-off with AJs, hoping that Richard Gryko on my left (also short stacked, but covering me) would shove and I could call.
He did raise, but ominously he made a smaller raise to about half my chips. I didn’t like that too much but I thought “FIP” and pushed the rest in. He snap-called with pocket Jacks, but an Ace on the flop saw me double up and Richard down to <> 100k chips on day2.
I continued to survive, and the field thinned out. Obviously my short stack was becoming ever shorter relative to the average. I was not worried about this. Nor was I worried about the prospect of perhaps surviving to come back with a bowl of rice on Day2. Since I was already committed to being around at the club for a few days, there were no issues of “double up or go home”.
Still, I would need a series of double ups eventually. I continued to be very tight in calling (in fact I don’t remember calling at all). My blinds were very much up for grabs.
Eventually, we reached the last level of the day 300/600/50 and I had around 6,500 chips – probably the shortest stack of the field. I was surprised that about 2/3 of the runners had already exited.
I pushed several times in this level, but always as the first into the pot and always with some kind of hand. Normally I will push with literally any two cards but then we are not normally playing a 75minute clock !
Of course during this period I passed some hands that would have trebled me up, as it turns out. C’est la vie.
Finally my stack fell below 10bb and now I had a stroke of luck. UTG with 4,900 I picked up 63s.
It was obvious to everyone that I was playing very tight so with the prospect of the blinds about to come through, I felt that I should have enough image equity to get this one through. I pushed (my very first push without a respectable hand) and found a pretty quick caller in Richard Mackay just a two seats along.
That was the bad news. The good news is that no one else called and I had to hope I was looking at live cards. Indeed I was – AQ suited for Richard. Unfortunately, the same suit as me.
A three came just in time, on the river. I now had over 10k – as much as I had for literally 6 or 7 hours.
One more double up would see me in reasonable shape.
I passed my blinds, and now made a possible error and definitely a critical hand. Action folded to me on the button with A2. My stack is about 16BB.
Normally I would be insta-shoving with Ace-high on the button with this short(ish) stack. Here, I hesitated. My stack is somewhat above the real shove-or-die zone and of course the structure is not remotely a crapshoot.
But, then, the two players behind me are very tight and Ace-high is likely the best hand. I can pick up 1,300 chips. I shove and receive an immediate call in the BB – Richard Mackay again.
He has woken up with pocket Kings. Now is the time to find that Ace ! It doesn’t come, and I am basically out although not before there is nearly a final twist.
I have 875 chips change (1 big blind and a few antes). We know what CAN happen. Next hand, 87 is enough to throw the chips in. Ade Bayo has already limped and two others come along.
The flop is T43 . Ade bets, to leave us heads up. He turns over Aces ! However, I hit runner J-9 for a straight ! With over 3,000 chips now, can I keep the dream alive ?
Shortly afterwards I am in the Big Blind with A9 facing a raise from India on the button. I put the rest in, and am ahead of KQ. In fact I hit Top Pair, Top kicker on the 9 high board. However, a Queen on the turn finally does shut the door 15 minutes before the close of play.
I know it’s irrational, but I would have really liked to make day 2. You do have to be “in it to win it” and although I broke my day 2 duck at the WSOP this year, I am still waiting for a day2 in any UK event.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and in hindsight I see that I probably could have cruised into day 2 if I had taken better care of my 25k stack in level 1. There weren’t any massive coolers or outdraws to blame. Instead, it was a failure to recognise the dynamics of such a long tournament. I made the same mistake in the WSOP ME.
My hope is that I have learned something from these mistakes. I do notice that of the tournament objectives I have set myself, I am gradually achieving some of them and getting every closer to others. I can’t wait for the next festival to try out my new patient style !
Tuesday 15 September 2009
PSOP £200 HORSE
I was pleased to see the HORSE event on the festival calendar once more. In fact I hope it will be a fixture for all future festivals. I would encourage everyone to have a go at it. I quite literally only learned the rules of the other games a few days before I competed in the first HORSE event, and it’s not hard to learn them.
Of course, it may be hard to learn to play them well but the great thing about a tournament is that you can’t come to too much harm whilst you’re still making big mistakes !
The other thing about HORSE that I imagine puts people off initially is that they are LIMIT games. It’s true that the first few rounds are quite slow going but, in reality, this is often the case in a deep stack NLH event, unless there is an AA vs KK trainwreck.
Once the blinds and antes kick up a bit, the pots can quickly escalate and the stacks can swing around quite violently.
Actually, I like the fact that in a limit tournament (ironically) you can more easily make a dramatic recovery from a short stack. Of course you have to find a hand that you want to commit with but, when you do, then you often will get paid off in full by multiple opponents so a multi-up is always just around the corner.
Online the other day I was down to 1.5 big bets and was last of the remaining 29 runners. A few hands later I was the chip leader and I felt a bit aggrieved in the end not to win the thing !
The HORSE event at the PSOP was the last competition of the 2-week extravaganza and, de facto, my last shot at a trophy. A field of only 29 runners meant that there were less bodies to get past although, not surprisingly, there were some specialists in attendance including several faces who only really come the The International when the HORSE is on.
In the end my campaign fizzled out in 13th spot. It was a rollercoaster; very early on I chipped up nicely, then lost ¾ of my stack in a series of situations where I was deep in hands and then had to give up. Frustatingly, I would have got there in some of those.
However, my 3k stack was soon up to 16k again as I did hit some hands. This was a decent stack but, again, not enough to sustain more than one or two serious hits.
I was crippled in a Razz hand where on 6th street I had a made 8 and I could tell my opponent had paired one of his low cards in the hole. Unfortunately he felt compelled to chase, and hit a 6 low on 7th street. I called his last bet at the end; I still do not have the stomach for folding to 1 bet into a 12 bet pot on the end even though I know the chances are that he is not bluffing.
I decided to get all my chips in on 3rd street in the next hand. You are never that far behind at this stage in Razz. JoeJoe was slightly ahead to begin with but had no low at all on 6th. Of course he got there on the last card and I was out. He went on to win, which is some consolation to me I guess !
I think I perhaps need to alter my strategy for a medium stack in these tournaments when I have a good hand. Perhaps play more passively until later in the deal to protect my stack ? I need to have a think about it before the next event.
The next relevant event, in fact, may be along quite soon as I am planning to play the £500 8-game at the EPT (October 6th). I am not sure what kind of player will participate in this. There is a £2,000 8-game for the big boys. Will the same players get involved for just £500 ? If not, who will ?
I suppose that a majority of the field will be mixed game experts. I will be dramatically outgunned for experience and technical knowledge in that case and I guess that it’s harder for luck to play a decisive role than in NLH (although 8-game does include NLH and PLO; maybe I need to explode the H-bombs in those rounds ?).
Still, as the EPT itself out of reach buy-in wise, I am happy with my choice of event and you never know what may happen. I know I will enjoy the event no matter what happens.
Of course, it may be hard to learn to play them well but the great thing about a tournament is that you can’t come to too much harm whilst you’re still making big mistakes !
The other thing about HORSE that I imagine puts people off initially is that they are LIMIT games. It’s true that the first few rounds are quite slow going but, in reality, this is often the case in a deep stack NLH event, unless there is an AA vs KK trainwreck.
Once the blinds and antes kick up a bit, the pots can quickly escalate and the stacks can swing around quite violently.
Actually, I like the fact that in a limit tournament (ironically) you can more easily make a dramatic recovery from a short stack. Of course you have to find a hand that you want to commit with but, when you do, then you often will get paid off in full by multiple opponents so a multi-up is always just around the corner.
Online the other day I was down to 1.5 big bets and was last of the remaining 29 runners. A few hands later I was the chip leader and I felt a bit aggrieved in the end not to win the thing !
The HORSE event at the PSOP was the last competition of the 2-week extravaganza and, de facto, my last shot at a trophy. A field of only 29 runners meant that there were less bodies to get past although, not surprisingly, there were some specialists in attendance including several faces who only really come the The International when the HORSE is on.
In the end my campaign fizzled out in 13th spot. It was a rollercoaster; very early on I chipped up nicely, then lost ¾ of my stack in a series of situations where I was deep in hands and then had to give up. Frustatingly, I would have got there in some of those.
However, my 3k stack was soon up to 16k again as I did hit some hands. This was a decent stack but, again, not enough to sustain more than one or two serious hits.
I was crippled in a Razz hand where on 6th street I had a made 8 and I could tell my opponent had paired one of his low cards in the hole. Unfortunately he felt compelled to chase, and hit a 6 low on 7th street. I called his last bet at the end; I still do not have the stomach for folding to 1 bet into a 12 bet pot on the end even though I know the chances are that he is not bluffing.
I decided to get all my chips in on 3rd street in the next hand. You are never that far behind at this stage in Razz. JoeJoe was slightly ahead to begin with but had no low at all on 6th. Of course he got there on the last card and I was out. He went on to win, which is some consolation to me I guess !
I think I perhaps need to alter my strategy for a medium stack in these tournaments when I have a good hand. Perhaps play more passively until later in the deal to protect my stack ? I need to have a think about it before the next event.
The next relevant event, in fact, may be along quite soon as I am planning to play the £500 8-game at the EPT (October 6th). I am not sure what kind of player will participate in this. There is a £2,000 8-game for the big boys. Will the same players get involved for just £500 ? If not, who will ?
I suppose that a majority of the field will be mixed game experts. I will be dramatically outgunned for experience and technical knowledge in that case and I guess that it’s harder for luck to play a decisive role than in NLH (although 8-game does include NLH and PLO; maybe I need to explode the H-bombs in those rounds ?).
Still, as the EPT itself out of reach buy-in wise, I am happy with my choice of event and you never know what may happen. I know I will enjoy the event no matter what happens.
Taking the 5th
It was Sunday and I fancied a go at the Sunday Million. I felt in reasonable tournament form.
However, the regular pokerstars schedule was affected by the WCOOP – a series of big online events over a 3week period. I didn’t take part in any of them, but I know they are/were a very important part of the calendar for the serious online players and for the pros who mix the online and live circuits. In fact the WCOOP has been an important challenge to some of the live festivals.
In any case, the regular $215 tournament had been replaced by a $1,050 2day marathon. I certainly wasn’t going to invest either the money or the time in tackling this one !
Back to reality. I entered the $150+12 $100k guarantee on gutshot.com – those MTTs are nice in that they have a few hundred runners (about 700 this time) and last a sensible few hours. The standard of play is also not spectacular. I also clicked on the Sunday 1/4-Million (the usual 28,000 runners and a chance at a huge payoff for the $11 entry) and a couple of other low stakes MTTs.
Earlier in the day I had final-tabled a HORSE event. In fact I was a bit disappointed not to win it as I came from 29/29 to a big lead with 10 players left. Still, my record in HORSE tournies is pretty good – cashed in over 50% of my starts and with an ROI of 800% (lol).
As the tournaments went on, I exited the $3R when my Aces did not hold up against J8 (standard ....) and then in the Gutshot $100k I self-destructed with 2pair on a very “wet” board where I probably should have escaped.
Meanwhile in the ¼-Million I cruised into the money places but making the top 10% (Aces no good again vs JJ aipf) was only good for about $10 in profit. These tournies pay so many places, but nearly all the worthwhile cash is at the very top end.
However, I was still in the $11 rebuy. I had made the freezeout stages with a modest $41 invested and was comfortable thanks to a nice triple up in the last hand of the rebuy period.
I don’t play enough MTTs on a regular enough basis to really know the individual structures but it was apparent this one was a real slow-burn. 12minute levels (that’s pretty long in online time) and a very gradual clock meant I was playing a 60-100bb stack all this time.
As the tournament grinded on, I had to stop playing my $1/2 PLO game and really concentrate. It was getting late and I was only just into the money places. Furthermore I wasn’t going to be very happy to finish in the lower money rungs ($55 to 495th place). However, at the sharp end it was $15k to first.
I was playing very tight by my standards, although there were still some H-bombs. In fact I hit the front after one such moment.
Raising with Q8 from early position, I faced a min raise from a large stack in the Big blind. It was an actual minimum raise – not even a raise to double my bet. Most peculiar. In any case, I could not fold. I flopped top pair but elected to play quite cautiously in position and when I rivered 2 pair I did not raise, but my opponent with Aces was still not happy !
He was clearly a bit tilted and that contributed to the very next hand where I raised UTG with pocket nines and called his shove from the Small blind. I figured his range was much wider because he was upset, and I also had in mind that this was a good time to take a race against a big Ace so I could go to bed if I lost !
Instead, it was even better as I was up against pocket 6s. There was a stream of abuse in the chatbox !
So, chipleader with 75 left. I don’t have a record of going really deep in pokerstars huge-field MTTs so I wasn’t too confident and at the same time I wanted to make the most of the opportunity.
I continued to pick up some good cards, race well and generally run pretty good. By the time we hit the last two tables, I was still amongst the top runners.
I made the final table – the first time I have ever done so – and eventually came in 5th for about $4,600. Overall I have to be happy with this. It’s among my top cashes in $$$ terms, and to make the top 5 from 3,500 runners is objectively a strong result.
As in any tournament, one is left with the feeling that one could have done better ! Lots of what-ifs, but I’ll take it.
I’m thinking of viewing it as a satellite, in effect, to the WSOPE £1,000 next weekend.
However, the regular pokerstars schedule was affected by the WCOOP – a series of big online events over a 3week period. I didn’t take part in any of them, but I know they are/were a very important part of the calendar for the serious online players and for the pros who mix the online and live circuits. In fact the WCOOP has been an important challenge to some of the live festivals.
In any case, the regular $215 tournament had been replaced by a $1,050 2day marathon. I certainly wasn’t going to invest either the money or the time in tackling this one !
Back to reality. I entered the $150+12 $100k guarantee on gutshot.com – those MTTs are nice in that they have a few hundred runners (about 700 this time) and last a sensible few hours. The standard of play is also not spectacular. I also clicked on the Sunday 1/4-Million (the usual 28,000 runners and a chance at a huge payoff for the $11 entry) and a couple of other low stakes MTTs.
Earlier in the day I had final-tabled a HORSE event. In fact I was a bit disappointed not to win it as I came from 29/29 to a big lead with 10 players left. Still, my record in HORSE tournies is pretty good – cashed in over 50% of my starts and with an ROI of 800% (lol).
As the tournaments went on, I exited the $3R when my Aces did not hold up against J8 (standard ....) and then in the Gutshot $100k I self-destructed with 2pair on a very “wet” board where I probably should have escaped.
Meanwhile in the ¼-Million I cruised into the money places but making the top 10% (Aces no good again vs JJ aipf) was only good for about $10 in profit. These tournies pay so many places, but nearly all the worthwhile cash is at the very top end.
However, I was still in the $11 rebuy. I had made the freezeout stages with a modest $41 invested and was comfortable thanks to a nice triple up in the last hand of the rebuy period.
I don’t play enough MTTs on a regular enough basis to really know the individual structures but it was apparent this one was a real slow-burn. 12minute levels (that’s pretty long in online time) and a very gradual clock meant I was playing a 60-100bb stack all this time.
As the tournament grinded on, I had to stop playing my $1/2 PLO game and really concentrate. It was getting late and I was only just into the money places. Furthermore I wasn’t going to be very happy to finish in the lower money rungs ($55 to 495th place). However, at the sharp end it was $15k to first.
I was playing very tight by my standards, although there were still some H-bombs. In fact I hit the front after one such moment.
Raising with Q8 from early position, I faced a min raise from a large stack in the Big blind. It was an actual minimum raise – not even a raise to double my bet. Most peculiar. In any case, I could not fold. I flopped top pair but elected to play quite cautiously in position and when I rivered 2 pair I did not raise, but my opponent with Aces was still not happy !
He was clearly a bit tilted and that contributed to the very next hand where I raised UTG with pocket nines and called his shove from the Small blind. I figured his range was much wider because he was upset, and I also had in mind that this was a good time to take a race against a big Ace so I could go to bed if I lost !
Instead, it was even better as I was up against pocket 6s. There was a stream of abuse in the chatbox !
So, chipleader with 75 left. I don’t have a record of going really deep in pokerstars huge-field MTTs so I wasn’t too confident and at the same time I wanted to make the most of the opportunity.
I continued to pick up some good cards, race well and generally run pretty good. By the time we hit the last two tables, I was still amongst the top runners.
I made the final table – the first time I have ever done so – and eventually came in 5th for about $4,600. Overall I have to be happy with this. It’s among my top cashes in $$$ terms, and to make the top 5 from 3,500 runners is objectively a strong result.
As in any tournament, one is left with the feeling that one could have done better ! Lots of what-ifs, but I’ll take it.
I’m thinking of viewing it as a satellite, in effect, to the WSOPE £1,000 next weekend.
Monday 14 September 2009
PSOP £300 PLO Double Chance
After my good run to 4th in the £200 NLH, albeit no trophy, I was excited about the prospects for the £300 PLO.
I arrived just after the start, at the exact same moment as Nik Persaud and James Akenhead also walked through the door fashionably late.
It turned out to be quite a small field – just 29 players – but every one of them was a familiar face.
My table included James, as well as Scottish Rob and Miriam, and many other well known players from the club.
The structure was 5,000 chips at 25/50 to start, with an optional 5,000 extra chips any time in the first 3 levels. After a previous experience with this structure, I opted NOT to take the extra chips early on (this was the standard choice).
Emboldened by the prospect of a second life, I started out with check-calling the flop, air check-raising the turn and then bluffing the river vs Miriam who always suspects I am doing this but often opts not to pay me off just in case.
Actually in this case I did river a pair, so maybe it was a value bet ;)
Second hand, in the big blind. There are 5 limpers to me. I must raise, surely, and what do I find ? Double-suited Aces ! I pot it to 350, to find Scottish Rob now making it 850. Akenhead calls this, and I see no reason not to bang it up to 3,350. In a few moments we are all-in 3 ways.
Obviously I am winning, but they both have pretty Ace-cracking hands and I have to dodge most of the deck on the river. However, one pair takes the lot and I have over 15k after two hands.
Someone utters the dangerous words “even Howard can’t blow this chip stack”. The fact is, I hardly knew what to do with this many chips and it caused some odd plays.
Notably, when I picked up double-suited Aces again and bumped it from the small blind, I actually led the flop and folded to a pot bet from Miriam even though I had flopped the nut flush draw to go with my overpair. A short stack called Miriam so we saw that she had top pair with a weak kicker, plus a flush draw (dead to my hand) and a gutshot. At showdown, a pair of Queens, Ten kicker was good.
So, as it turns out, I might have moved on to 30,000 chips here if I re-pot and she goes with her hand. My thought at the time was that I didn’t want to play a 30,000 pot with a player who covered me. In hindsight I think I would play the pot smaller but not give up so early in the hand.
After that, I made some expensive hero calls (eg calling Dan Do’s shove with top pair, 9 kicker).
After I dwelled and called, he said “good call” but in fact I was outkicked. He assumed I had made a tough call with the bare overpair of Aces. Several hero calls later, I needed my rebuy chip but I did calm my play down and tried to ensure I would remain in the hunt.
By this time, a £50 rebuy sat to the Main Event was underway and Miriam and I were multi-tabling.
Back on the Omaha, I receive a lucky break when I 4-bet shoved with KKQx and JymJam appears to dwell up over the call a little bit. So, when he doesn’t instacall I figure I cannot be facing Aces.
However, I am ! I guess he was just taking a moment to think about the tournament situation.
I am in jeopardy but I flop more outs, and turn a straight. An unnecessary King also comes on the river. I am now in decent shape and make the final table again. Only 4 places to pay with this small field, though.
What a final table ! £50 rebuy PLO champ George the Cake is there. Nik P, Barry, Jym Jam, Mike Selzer. It doesn’t look great for me ...
However, I score a major H-bomb vs George. I make a raise on the button in a limped pot with the mighty J-8-6-3 and get two callers. The flop is J-J-3 !! George check-raises me all-in – he has the other Jack with overcards. Those don’t come, so I more than double up to a very useful 40k or so.
I’m having another spell over at the rebuy sat when I hear that a deal is in the advanced stages of discussion. I am not a huge fan of deals but, by the time I come back over to the table, six of the remaining seven players have agreed an even money chop.
I really want the trophy, however, so I only agree on the basis that we are playing on properly for position. Clearly some are more interested than others in the trophy and the play can never be 100% “normal” once the money is chopped. Indeed, a couple of players get their chips in quickly and very light.
We’re down to 4 players when I find a hand I am happy to get it all in with – double suited Kings. We play a big pot 3-way all-in with George playing Queens and JymJam a nice rundown. My Kings hold to take me into a heads-up for the trophy with Miriam.
Who would have predicted this !
We are very even in chips and we are both clear that we are playing to win. It would be a first trophy for either of us.
I felt a had a good chance, but in the end the battle was short. In one hand, we both flopped big draws and I had to give up a big pot on the turn after Miriam had clearly hit her straight. In the very next hand, my Aces were outflopped and I went broke vs 2 pair.
So ... disappointed to have fallen short of the trophy once again, but pretty happy with a 100% cashing record at the festival so far !
I arrived just after the start, at the exact same moment as Nik Persaud and James Akenhead also walked through the door fashionably late.
It turned out to be quite a small field – just 29 players – but every one of them was a familiar face.
My table included James, as well as Scottish Rob and Miriam, and many other well known players from the club.
The structure was 5,000 chips at 25/50 to start, with an optional 5,000 extra chips any time in the first 3 levels. After a previous experience with this structure, I opted NOT to take the extra chips early on (this was the standard choice).
Emboldened by the prospect of a second life, I started out with check-calling the flop, air check-raising the turn and then bluffing the river vs Miriam who always suspects I am doing this but often opts not to pay me off just in case.
Actually in this case I did river a pair, so maybe it was a value bet ;)
Second hand, in the big blind. There are 5 limpers to me. I must raise, surely, and what do I find ? Double-suited Aces ! I pot it to 350, to find Scottish Rob now making it 850. Akenhead calls this, and I see no reason not to bang it up to 3,350. In a few moments we are all-in 3 ways.
Obviously I am winning, but they both have pretty Ace-cracking hands and I have to dodge most of the deck on the river. However, one pair takes the lot and I have over 15k after two hands.
Someone utters the dangerous words “even Howard can’t blow this chip stack”. The fact is, I hardly knew what to do with this many chips and it caused some odd plays.
Notably, when I picked up double-suited Aces again and bumped it from the small blind, I actually led the flop and folded to a pot bet from Miriam even though I had flopped the nut flush draw to go with my overpair. A short stack called Miriam so we saw that she had top pair with a weak kicker, plus a flush draw (dead to my hand) and a gutshot. At showdown, a pair of Queens, Ten kicker was good.
So, as it turns out, I might have moved on to 30,000 chips here if I re-pot and she goes with her hand. My thought at the time was that I didn’t want to play a 30,000 pot with a player who covered me. In hindsight I think I would play the pot smaller but not give up so early in the hand.
After that, I made some expensive hero calls (eg calling Dan Do’s shove with top pair, 9 kicker).
After I dwelled and called, he said “good call” but in fact I was outkicked. He assumed I had made a tough call with the bare overpair of Aces. Several hero calls later, I needed my rebuy chip but I did calm my play down and tried to ensure I would remain in the hunt.
By this time, a £50 rebuy sat to the Main Event was underway and Miriam and I were multi-tabling.
Back on the Omaha, I receive a lucky break when I 4-bet shoved with KKQx and JymJam appears to dwell up over the call a little bit. So, when he doesn’t instacall I figure I cannot be facing Aces.
However, I am ! I guess he was just taking a moment to think about the tournament situation.
I am in jeopardy but I flop more outs, and turn a straight. An unnecessary King also comes on the river. I am now in decent shape and make the final table again. Only 4 places to pay with this small field, though.
What a final table ! £50 rebuy PLO champ George the Cake is there. Nik P, Barry, Jym Jam, Mike Selzer. It doesn’t look great for me ...
However, I score a major H-bomb vs George. I make a raise on the button in a limped pot with the mighty J-8-6-3 and get two callers. The flop is J-J-3 !! George check-raises me all-in – he has the other Jack with overcards. Those don’t come, so I more than double up to a very useful 40k or so.
I’m having another spell over at the rebuy sat when I hear that a deal is in the advanced stages of discussion. I am not a huge fan of deals but, by the time I come back over to the table, six of the remaining seven players have agreed an even money chop.
I really want the trophy, however, so I only agree on the basis that we are playing on properly for position. Clearly some are more interested than others in the trophy and the play can never be 100% “normal” once the money is chopped. Indeed, a couple of players get their chips in quickly and very light.
We’re down to 4 players when I find a hand I am happy to get it all in with – double suited Kings. We play a big pot 3-way all-in with George playing Queens and JymJam a nice rundown. My Kings hold to take me into a heads-up for the trophy with Miriam.
Who would have predicted this !
We are very even in chips and we are both clear that we are playing to win. It would be a first trophy for either of us.
I felt a had a good chance, but in the end the battle was short. In one hand, we both flopped big draws and I had to give up a big pot on the turn after Miriam had clearly hit her straight. In the very next hand, my Aces were outflopped and I went broke vs 2 pair.
So ... disappointed to have fallen short of the trophy once again, but pretty happy with a 100% cashing record at the festival so far !
Thursday 10 September 2009
PSOP £200 NLH Freezeout
My route into the event was typical H-Bomb stuff, but, once I sat down for the real thing, I tried to focus on playing properly. I really wanted to record my first outright win at The International.
I believe I achieved my aim of playing a really solid game. I stayed below the radar early doors, although I was also on the lookout for opportunities to make some stylish plays.
I was particularly looking to make some winning hero calls. Early contender for that was my river call with a Pair of Sixes, Queen kicker in a six-way pot where the final board has three cards six-high plus a high pair on board. Yes, this means my hand was Q6, but they were soooooted.
This, to be fair, was not an especially difficult call. However, it was a decent-sized pot since there were the 6 limpers pre-flop and 5 of those called my small stab on the turn. Clearly most of them were flushing, and the button decided to have a 1/3 pot bluff at it when all checked the river.
Since I was playing so few hands (by my standards) I had time to look around at the festival. There was the new TV table with commentary station for the webcasts – what a brilliant idea !
What else is new ? Well the air-con is really cold, which is a novelty. I don’t mind that, personally.
The tourney chips are also new. I like the design, but I am not really sold on the weight and feel. They’re also so clean that they slide around and don’t stack up properly. Hopefully that will cause me some problems !
Still not much happening for me. I go through that phase where the hands I fold would have hit the flop like a guided missile. I get a small float the turn/bluff the river and bluff through against Ray Caabay and it keeps me going on about 12,000 chips at the end of level 3 (slightly above average with about a dozen players having made early exits).
Now I get a run of good cards. I am dealt AA twice and KK twice but frustratingly I don’t make too many chips with them. Having said that, I do win all those hands (all without showdown) so one mustn’t grumble too much.
I don’t seem to be able to hang onto my stack though. And, unlike some other events, it is not really due to splashing around. I have to fold KQs and AJs to strong pre-flop action and then when I get pushed off a mid pair by a squeeze from Ray, I turn out to have been ahead of his T3 (!) and also of India’s AQ (who did call).
Although I’m not making much forward progress, I am alive in the comp and I improve on my hero‑call record with a river call with K-high on an Ace-high board showing three cards to a flush and straight. Winning vs Thom’s Queen high. Again, though, not a genuine tough call based on the action.
I receive a few murmurs of “good call” from around the table although one’s never sure if these are ironic ! Thom, meanwhile, remarks wryly “I’ve got you where I want you if you’re calling with that”.
We’re down to the last 3 tables and my stack has been in the range 9k-14k for the entire comp.
By now, of course, that is only about half the average. Still, it is enough, and I am pleased that I have stayed patient. The fancy plays that I have done have all been for sensible amounts of chips so there haven’t really been any H-bombs yet.
Now, finally, I get some proper momentum. I double up with QQ > 99 and again with JJ > TT and then a dream scenario plays out vs. India. At 1,000/2,000 I make a raise with KcQc from late position to 5,100 and receive a call from India in the blinds. Even in position I’m a bit afraid of her, but the flop comes down AcJc6c!
I wonder how to proceed .... when she opens the flop for 7,500. I do my best to look concerned and flat call. Check/Check on the turn (a blank).
What to do on the river ? Again, my decision is made for me. India bets 12,000 (half my stack) so I shove hoping she has a piece of it. She insta-folds (J3 apparently). She said she couldn’t let me have the pot pre-flop on her blind!
Now I’m motoring, although I immediately take a 20k hit right back when a short stack (5bb) opens and I push with AQ from the big blind. He dwells forever (long into the break) before making the call with 77.
I lose that pot, but momentum returns soon after and before long we are setting out the final table.
At this point, Mike Middlemiss also rolls the clock back to the 2k/4k level which means there will be a fair amount of play at the final table. My 99k is a solid 25BB.
In fact, I soon have twice this many just by stealing and re-stealing and as a few players get knocked out, I start to feel I can take it down.
With 4 left, we take a short break and I am in a slender chip lead (280k vs 230k, 130k and 70k).
However, it is a tough field at this point. Two former festival champions in the form of Al Hughes and India Storrar, plus Chris Huxtable who is obviously more than capable of taking this down.
My aggressive play at the final table got me into this spot, and it was equally aggressive play that was maybe my undoing.
At 5k/10k, Chris opened UTG for 26k which was somewhat standard. He started the hand with 130k or so and I know that he is folding very strong hands to a shove. So I think J9s is plenty and put him to the test.
He passes the test rather easily as he snaps with KK. Oops. Of course, I still have a reasonable stack once I lose this hand (I do flop some outs to give Chris a sweat, though).
In the end it wasn’t to be and in fact I went from chipleader to finish 4th, whilst India came from 4th to take it down !
Still, 4th place was my largest tournament cash at The International and my first placing in a festival event. It was also a European Ranking tournament so I am presumably now ranked as the Nth best player in Europe where N, of course, is an almost arbitrarily large number !
I believe I achieved my aim of playing a really solid game. I stayed below the radar early doors, although I was also on the lookout for opportunities to make some stylish plays.
I was particularly looking to make some winning hero calls. Early contender for that was my river call with a Pair of Sixes, Queen kicker in a six-way pot where the final board has three cards six-high plus a high pair on board. Yes, this means my hand was Q6, but they were soooooted.
This, to be fair, was not an especially difficult call. However, it was a decent-sized pot since there were the 6 limpers pre-flop and 5 of those called my small stab on the turn. Clearly most of them were flushing, and the button decided to have a 1/3 pot bluff at it when all checked the river.
Since I was playing so few hands (by my standards) I had time to look around at the festival. There was the new TV table with commentary station for the webcasts – what a brilliant idea !
What else is new ? Well the air-con is really cold, which is a novelty. I don’t mind that, personally.
The tourney chips are also new. I like the design, but I am not really sold on the weight and feel. They’re also so clean that they slide around and don’t stack up properly. Hopefully that will cause me some problems !
Still not much happening for me. I go through that phase where the hands I fold would have hit the flop like a guided missile. I get a small float the turn/bluff the river and bluff through against Ray Caabay and it keeps me going on about 12,000 chips at the end of level 3 (slightly above average with about a dozen players having made early exits).
Now I get a run of good cards. I am dealt AA twice and KK twice but frustratingly I don’t make too many chips with them. Having said that, I do win all those hands (all without showdown) so one mustn’t grumble too much.
I don’t seem to be able to hang onto my stack though. And, unlike some other events, it is not really due to splashing around. I have to fold KQs and AJs to strong pre-flop action and then when I get pushed off a mid pair by a squeeze from Ray, I turn out to have been ahead of his T3 (!) and also of India’s AQ (who did call).
Although I’m not making much forward progress, I am alive in the comp and I improve on my hero‑call record with a river call with K-high on an Ace-high board showing three cards to a flush and straight. Winning vs Thom’s Queen high. Again, though, not a genuine tough call based on the action.
I receive a few murmurs of “good call” from around the table although one’s never sure if these are ironic ! Thom, meanwhile, remarks wryly “I’ve got you where I want you if you’re calling with that”.
We’re down to the last 3 tables and my stack has been in the range 9k-14k for the entire comp.
By now, of course, that is only about half the average. Still, it is enough, and I am pleased that I have stayed patient. The fancy plays that I have done have all been for sensible amounts of chips so there haven’t really been any H-bombs yet.
Now, finally, I get some proper momentum. I double up with QQ > 99 and again with JJ > TT and then a dream scenario plays out vs. India. At 1,000/2,000 I make a raise with KcQc from late position to 5,100 and receive a call from India in the blinds. Even in position I’m a bit afraid of her, but the flop comes down AcJc6c!
I wonder how to proceed .... when she opens the flop for 7,500. I do my best to look concerned and flat call. Check/Check on the turn (a blank).
What to do on the river ? Again, my decision is made for me. India bets 12,000 (half my stack) so I shove hoping she has a piece of it. She insta-folds (J3 apparently). She said she couldn’t let me have the pot pre-flop on her blind!
Now I’m motoring, although I immediately take a 20k hit right back when a short stack (5bb) opens and I push with AQ from the big blind. He dwells forever (long into the break) before making the call with 77.
I lose that pot, but momentum returns soon after and before long we are setting out the final table.
At this point, Mike Middlemiss also rolls the clock back to the 2k/4k level which means there will be a fair amount of play at the final table. My 99k is a solid 25BB.
In fact, I soon have twice this many just by stealing and re-stealing and as a few players get knocked out, I start to feel I can take it down.
With 4 left, we take a short break and I am in a slender chip lead (280k vs 230k, 130k and 70k).
However, it is a tough field at this point. Two former festival champions in the form of Al Hughes and India Storrar, plus Chris Huxtable who is obviously more than capable of taking this down.
My aggressive play at the final table got me into this spot, and it was equally aggressive play that was maybe my undoing.
At 5k/10k, Chris opened UTG for 26k which was somewhat standard. He started the hand with 130k or so and I know that he is folding very strong hands to a shove. So I think J9s is plenty and put him to the test.
He passes the test rather easily as he snaps with KK. Oops. Of course, I still have a reasonable stack once I lose this hand (I do flop some outs to give Chris a sweat, though).
In the end it wasn’t to be and in fact I went from chipleader to finish 4th, whilst India came from 4th to take it down !
Still, 4th place was my largest tournament cash at The International and my first placing in a festival event. It was also a European Ranking tournament so I am presumably now ranked as the Nth best player in Europe where N, of course, is an almost arbitrarily large number !
Friday 4 September 2009
Festival of Fun
The 2-week PSOP Festival is on at The International right now.
I was only planning to play the £1,000 main event, but the buzz emanating from the club and the forum convinced me to think again.
Then, the club started live-streaming from the newly created TV stage.
Change of plans ! Let’s forget about a selection of WSOPE, GUKPT and EPT events for the balance of this year, and go for a festival binge at The International instead.
So, I make it down for the £10 rebuy satellite to the £200 NLH freezeout (Event 7) and my intention is to play every event from then on (except for the £100/50 on Thursday which I can’t make).
Things start well.
In the £10R sat, you can rebuy immediately but I decided to be all-in first hand instead, and double rebuy if I lost. Two all-ins before it got to me. I duly called all-in blind.
Pocket 3s and pocket 6s have pushed before me.
My 84o doesn’t look too promising, but three clubs on the flop and another on the turn leaves the others hoping for the board to run out a straight flush.
After this first-hand treble up, I was couldn’t lose.
Even when I lost, I won the side pots.
It all led to me being the chip leader at the end of the rebuy period. I still added on as I don’t believe there is such a thing as too many chips, particularly in a super-turbo (as this was about to become).
I decided my strategy would be to exploit my chip lead by opening a lot of pots. I perhaps took this a little far when I raised to 650 with Q-6o from early position. Kirit in the big blind pushed for only about 1,400 total so I was just saying how it was unfortunate but I really had to call, when he accidentally flipped up his hand: Q-6o !
I am not sure whether he thought I had called, thought I had folded or thought he was calling all-in.
Whatever the case, I call now. If it wasn’t incredible enough that I raised with Q-6o, that he then pushed with Q-6o given I am likely to call, and that I now call with Q-6o, I now proceeded to win the hand with a 6-high flush !
Meanwhile, another player says he passed Q-6o as well in this coup.
That’s how good I was running.
Alas, once again, I failed to turn a winning satellite position into a seat. I need to learn to play even tighter. Mind you, I am not sure everyone else was playing tight enough either. With 12 left, I open-pushed with A-3o from the small blind and was called by 5-5 (he covered me by a tiny amount).
That’s not an automatic call, surely ?
Anyway, no good, but there was 10 minutes left and one seat left in the £20 turnover.
I give it a spin and 8-6o is good for trips on a 4-straight paired board, and we’re in !
Part 2 to follow.
I was only planning to play the £1,000 main event, but the buzz emanating from the club and the forum convinced me to think again.
Then, the club started live-streaming from the newly created TV stage.
Change of plans ! Let’s forget about a selection of WSOPE, GUKPT and EPT events for the balance of this year, and go for a festival binge at The International instead.
So, I make it down for the £10 rebuy satellite to the £200 NLH freezeout (Event 7) and my intention is to play every event from then on (except for the £100/50 on Thursday which I can’t make).
Things start well.
In the £10R sat, you can rebuy immediately but I decided to be all-in first hand instead, and double rebuy if I lost. Two all-ins before it got to me. I duly called all-in blind.
Pocket 3s and pocket 6s have pushed before me.
My 84o doesn’t look too promising, but three clubs on the flop and another on the turn leaves the others hoping for the board to run out a straight flush.
After this first-hand treble up, I was couldn’t lose.
Even when I lost, I won the side pots.
It all led to me being the chip leader at the end of the rebuy period. I still added on as I don’t believe there is such a thing as too many chips, particularly in a super-turbo (as this was about to become).
I decided my strategy would be to exploit my chip lead by opening a lot of pots. I perhaps took this a little far when I raised to 650 with Q-6o from early position. Kirit in the big blind pushed for only about 1,400 total so I was just saying how it was unfortunate but I really had to call, when he accidentally flipped up his hand: Q-6o !
I am not sure whether he thought I had called, thought I had folded or thought he was calling all-in.
Whatever the case, I call now. If it wasn’t incredible enough that I raised with Q-6o, that he then pushed with Q-6o given I am likely to call, and that I now call with Q-6o, I now proceeded to win the hand with a 6-high flush !
Meanwhile, another player says he passed Q-6o as well in this coup.
That’s how good I was running.
Alas, once again, I failed to turn a winning satellite position into a seat. I need to learn to play even tighter. Mind you, I am not sure everyone else was playing tight enough either. With 12 left, I open-pushed with A-3o from the small blind and was called by 5-5 (he covered me by a tiny amount).
That’s not an automatic call, surely ?
Anyway, no good, but there was 10 minutes left and one seat left in the £20 turnover.
I give it a spin and 8-6o is good for trips on a 4-straight paired board, and we’re in !
Part 2 to follow.
Thursday 3 September 2009
Poker on TV
The ESPN coverage for the Main Event has been running for a few weeks now. They are airing weekly shows in the run-up to the November final.
I still do not really like the 3-month hiatus, but I am beginning to understand why ESPN/Harrah’s think it is a good commercial idea.
The Day 1C coverage was supposed to be released on September 1st. This would be when I would find out if my Full Tilt hat was going to bring me a pay-day.
I was genuinely in two minds. I was told I needed only to feature in just one deal on the final edit to get paid.
On the one hand, I played at that table for about 6 hours and made some crazy “good for TV” plays. On the other hand, Daniel Negreanu had such a lame main event that I could easily imagine the whole session hitting the cutting room floor.
I really didn’t know, but in reality the actual playing on the TV table was the main thing. I have no real interest in being shown on TV. Of course a few $k of free money is always welcome.
Then, about a week before the due date, I heard on the internet that the table had been shown and was on pokertube (sort of a youtube for poker videos).
Apparently, I make only a brief appearance, getting out of the way pre-flop.
To be honest, I thought this might fail even the low hurdle that was set for my appearance money but actually I just heard from Full Tilt that they are paying me out. Indeed, the money is in my account. Of course, getting money out of online poker sites into the real world is not always the easiest thing (see previous blogs !)
I doubt I will ever be on TV playing poker again – at least, not for a long time.
The next best thing, then, is to be webcast in real time playing poker at The International.
If you liked Big Brother, you will love this ! Live streaming video from the newly built “TV table” at the club. For the past few days, it has been broadcasting 24/7. Even when there are no players, the mics pick up the sounds of the club. Strangely fascinating.
Unlike the ESPN shows, the feed is not edited at all (which may not be a good thing !)
I guess I was on there for a few hours on Wednesday as I managed a 4th place in the £200 Festival event (still searching for that first win ... sigh...). Fame at last. Since EPSN does not broadcast in the UK, this webcast is probably seen by more people than my prime time US television appearance !
Pokertube link (my moment of fame at ~ 3:17. Yes, that's it !)
Monday 24 August 2009
Square Deal
It had been a little while since I came back from holiday, and I hadn’t played any poker at all since the games on the cruise ship. I even had a relatively light playing period before going away.
Mentally, I was setting up for a few bursts of really concentrated poker for the rest of the year, with less casual play in between.
I had a good look at the calendar of upcoming events for the remainder of 2009.
It is action-packed to say the least !
I am only focussed on UK events, but there are multiple GUKPTs, an EPT, the WSOP Europe, and several festivals in reachable locations including the 2-week Paradise Series of Poker at The International. Each of the major events also has a full array of side events.
Then, online, there is the WCOOP. The list goes on and on, not to mention a possible forum game in October, the 1-year anniversary bash at The International and perhaps I will host another event myself.
I look at my options.
I am not going to play the GUKPT grand final or the EPT without winning a satellite (or being sponsored, lol !). And the fact is it isn’t easy to satellite in (no double shootouts on Full Tilt, boo...).
So, I put those to one side as well as the GUKPTs that are not in London (where is Thanet, anyway ? I Wikipedia it and find out it is not even a place – it’s more of a geographical concept).
I played the WSOPE £1,500 last year so I do fancy the £1,000 event this year. The other “must play” is the £1,000 at the PSOP. At the EPT, I pencil in the £500 Mixed game event.
Deeve from the forum says he’s playing a £50 satellite at The Empire to the £1,000 WSOPE. For that reason, I decide to give it a try as well.
I drive in because I want to be able to get home the same night. I have worked, lived or played poker in London for over 20 years so I do know my way around a bit but when I drive in town I realise that I don’t necessarily know the best routes, or the proper location of things.
I do have a sat-nav but I almost always leave it at home, along with the A-Z. I must be able to find Leicester Square.
I have my own favourite routes through London. I guess they are really based on my history. I take certain roads, or navigate via certain landmarks based mainly on where I used to work, where I went to a football match, where I went to a party one time, that place where I drove the wrong way up a one-way street and got stopped by the police.
Actually, that has happened twice. Once after I met my mum in Covent Garden for dinner with my then-girlfriend (now wife), and again the first time I tried to find The International on East Road.
Fortunately, both times I got away with a quizzical look, a “drive safely” and a let-off.
So, Leicester Square.
“West End” sounds a good direction to aim for. As I get further into central London, I feel it wouldn’t hurt for there to be an actual sign for the place !
I am surrounded by locations where I had an interview once, or met someone for lunch, or that place where my beaten-up Fiat decided to pack up in rush hour. I know that in London, places are usually surprisingly close to each other, or else the exact opposite.
Finally, when I think I may have to weaken and look under the seat or in the boot to see if I actually do have an A-Z, I recognise the Trocadero (where I last met my old friend Jack from Jordan whom I haven’t now seen for 11 years) and I’m sorted. I was wondering where on Earth I could park, but “Leicester Square Car Park” seems to be the answer.
So, in I go. Deeve is there as well as a couple of other people I recognise. I am “persuaded” to sit down in a £1-2 NLH game for 10 minutes before the off and manage to lose a full buy-in in ridiculous fashion (his call was ridiculous, not my bluff, obv.)
The field for the satellite is soft ! Let me give you an example. Mid-position limps. I limp the hijack with pocket 5s. Button makes a min-raise. We both call.
The flop comes T-T-2. I intend to check-raise here but first the other active player bets 100 into 900.
I decide to just call and the button folds (?!). Turn a 5. Now my opponent bets 500 with 650 behind.
Really, I should push now but I decide for some reason I can get the rest on any river. The river is an Ace, which completes a flush as well. The fella checks so now I have to put him in (terrible river for me really) and he calls with QQ.
So, with this kind of field, it was a bit disappointing that at the end of the rebuy period I had almost the minimum possible number of chips ! I went bust bluffing into the nuts on the last hand so after a rebuy and add-on I needed a solid start to the freezeout.
A few hands in, after picking up a few blinds, I push with AQ. All insta-fold to the big blind who tanks. I’m liking that and when he eventually calls I am hoping that I dominate him, until he shows me AK-suited !
Hey ho. I look around and since my bluff-calling friend has left, I decide to take advantage of my early exit by relocating to The International for the rest of the evening.
Naturally I start out by bluffing off a couple of buy ins (by now, you would think I could rely on previous evidence to do my advertising ?) before I am able to turn it into a hole-escaping win.
I rarely play at the weekends, but it seems like the cash games at the club are worth making a trip for!
Mentally, I was setting up for a few bursts of really concentrated poker for the rest of the year, with less casual play in between.
I had a good look at the calendar of upcoming events for the remainder of 2009.
It is action-packed to say the least !
I am only focussed on UK events, but there are multiple GUKPTs, an EPT, the WSOP Europe, and several festivals in reachable locations including the 2-week Paradise Series of Poker at The International. Each of the major events also has a full array of side events.
Then, online, there is the WCOOP. The list goes on and on, not to mention a possible forum game in October, the 1-year anniversary bash at The International and perhaps I will host another event myself.
I look at my options.
I am not going to play the GUKPT grand final or the EPT without winning a satellite (or being sponsored, lol !). And the fact is it isn’t easy to satellite in (no double shootouts on Full Tilt, boo...).
So, I put those to one side as well as the GUKPTs that are not in London (where is Thanet, anyway ? I Wikipedia it and find out it is not even a place – it’s more of a geographical concept).
I played the WSOPE £1,500 last year so I do fancy the £1,000 event this year. The other “must play” is the £1,000 at the PSOP. At the EPT, I pencil in the £500 Mixed game event.
Deeve from the forum says he’s playing a £50 satellite at The Empire to the £1,000 WSOPE. For that reason, I decide to give it a try as well.
I drive in because I want to be able to get home the same night. I have worked, lived or played poker in London for over 20 years so I do know my way around a bit but when I drive in town I realise that I don’t necessarily know the best routes, or the proper location of things.
I do have a sat-nav but I almost always leave it at home, along with the A-Z. I must be able to find Leicester Square.
I have my own favourite routes through London. I guess they are really based on my history. I take certain roads, or navigate via certain landmarks based mainly on where I used to work, where I went to a football match, where I went to a party one time, that place where I drove the wrong way up a one-way street and got stopped by the police.
Actually, that has happened twice. Once after I met my mum in Covent Garden for dinner with my then-girlfriend (now wife), and again the first time I tried to find The International on East Road.
Fortunately, both times I got away with a quizzical look, a “drive safely” and a let-off.
So, Leicester Square.
“West End” sounds a good direction to aim for. As I get further into central London, I feel it wouldn’t hurt for there to be an actual sign for the place !
I am surrounded by locations where I had an interview once, or met someone for lunch, or that place where my beaten-up Fiat decided to pack up in rush hour. I know that in London, places are usually surprisingly close to each other, or else the exact opposite.
Finally, when I think I may have to weaken and look under the seat or in the boot to see if I actually do have an A-Z, I recognise the Trocadero (where I last met my old friend Jack from Jordan whom I haven’t now seen for 11 years) and I’m sorted. I was wondering where on Earth I could park, but “Leicester Square Car Park” seems to be the answer.
So, in I go. Deeve is there as well as a couple of other people I recognise. I am “persuaded” to sit down in a £1-2 NLH game for 10 minutes before the off and manage to lose a full buy-in in ridiculous fashion (his call was ridiculous, not my bluff, obv.)
The field for the satellite is soft ! Let me give you an example. Mid-position limps. I limp the hijack with pocket 5s. Button makes a min-raise. We both call.
The flop comes T-T-2. I intend to check-raise here but first the other active player bets 100 into 900.
I decide to just call and the button folds (?!). Turn a 5. Now my opponent bets 500 with 650 behind.
Really, I should push now but I decide for some reason I can get the rest on any river. The river is an Ace, which completes a flush as well. The fella checks so now I have to put him in (terrible river for me really) and he calls with QQ.
So, with this kind of field, it was a bit disappointing that at the end of the rebuy period I had almost the minimum possible number of chips ! I went bust bluffing into the nuts on the last hand so after a rebuy and add-on I needed a solid start to the freezeout.
A few hands in, after picking up a few blinds, I push with AQ. All insta-fold to the big blind who tanks. I’m liking that and when he eventually calls I am hoping that I dominate him, until he shows me AK-suited !
Hey ho. I look around and since my bluff-calling friend has left, I decide to take advantage of my early exit by relocating to The International for the rest of the evening.
Naturally I start out by bluffing off a couple of buy ins (by now, you would think I could rely on previous evidence to do my advertising ?) before I am able to turn it into a hole-escaping win.
I rarely play at the weekends, but it seems like the cash games at the club are worth making a trip for!
Tuesday 18 August 2009
After my first losing session at the $1/2 NLH game on board, I enjoyed a solid recovery in the subsequent games.
Not all the players were bad. Some of them were clearly quite experienced, in fact. Norman Gold was one of those. I don’t know him, but he apparently plays regularly at The Vic. A couple of other players knew him from there, so they likewise must be assumed to know their way around the game.
Still, I didn’t need to win any money off that section of the table. There was plenty to be had from the other groups: (a) the short-stacked timid players, (b) the predictable players and especially (c) the roulette players.
The roulette guys more or less knew how to play poker (mechanically speaking), but on roulette they were experts. For example, they knew when Red was hot and when Red was favoured one of them had a good plan: bet on every red number. His equivalent strategy in poker was to play every hand for any raise pre-flop.
By the end of the 2nd week, I had amassed a useful 4-figure profit from my starting $200buy-in without ever being down overall. I paid off the room bill (just the extras: sadly not enough to pay for the cruise: if it had been a $5/10 game then maybe ....) and set aside some profit. I left myself just $160 in my wallet “in case” I wanted to have one just go on the last night.
I came into the game at about 11:30pm with a quick spin-up in mind. I pulled up just $60 – the average stack was about $250.
After winning one small pot, I had $71 when I picked up Aces on the button. Alan made it $17 to go from early position. He was a regular all week and had picked up on my very loose play, no doubt. I felt very sure that I could get it all in now, and indeed he fairly quickly called my shove with pocket 5s. First double up accomplished.
I made another good step forward with 43s – flopping two pair vs Alan again, who virtually doubled me up as I bet it all the way to the river vs his top pair.
Finally, with an early start and long drive ahead of us in the morning, I reluctantly announced I would play around to my button.
My button hand duly arrived. Scottish Colin elected to limp and re-evaluate after my assumed raise. I looked down at KTo and decided to just call the straddle and await developments. To my surprise, no one raised.
5-way to the flop: Q-J-3. OK, I have an open-ender but I really do not want to get too busy on the last hand of the night. Someone bets $15, which I called, and now Colin check-raises to $50. I decide I can continue here.
Turn – an offsuit 9. Colin moves in with his pocket Aces and is drawing dead when I call with the nuts !
I decide, for once, to end on a high and I call it a night having turned $60 into nearly $500 in about an hour.
Sunday 16 August 2009
Out of Port, Stars on Board
In the later part of the cruise, the poker took on a pattern. All the regulars now knew there would be a game in the late evening, and more people had heard about the game.
In principle, there was a game whenever the casino was open. This was from about 30mins after we left port, or all-day (say noon – 2am) if we were at sea.
In practice, the game seemed to start around midnight.
However, as the days went by, the start time definitely drifted earlier to the point where I was showing up after dinner and finding a full game already in progress.
The busier games brought in new players. Especially the “casino fish” who would stroll over to the poker table after a good run at the roulette. These players were not timid about putting their chips in.
They were the typical “bad players” that tend to provoke mixed reactions. On the one hand, they were clearly terrible (and drunk) so they were huge value, but on the other hand they were noisy and slowed the game down, and of course they were very dangerous (especially to those with shallow bankrolls).
Personally, I find it baffling when a solid player says something on the lines of “I hate playing against real fish”. I just about understand why they say this, but it completely wrong-headed in my view.
Yes, these players can and will get very lucky. Yes, they can bust you multiple times whilst their luck holds. But if you can keep reloading and don’t run out of time, then those chips are coming right back (with interest).
Perhaps my natural style also has made be comfortable with a very volatile game, so I am willing to fight fire with fire and put all my chips in.
The first night that the roulette crew came by saw my first losing session.
When I sat down, Jonny from Cheshire had already taken chunks out of the rest of the table. The two hands I watched before sitting down saw him river a flush with 73s in one hand, and in another he cold-called a raise and a re-raise pre-flop with J8o. The flop came QT9r. He cleaned up again.
It was clear he had no preflop standards, but actually he did get paid the max on both hands which made me think that possibly he might know what he was doing.
He was prepared to make big raises pre-flop with almost any two cards. Once I realised that he had such a wide range, I decided to let him know I was in the game. I limped for $2 along with a couple of others. Jonny made it $15 from the blinds. Two of the limpers called this as well (these were the tight-weak players), so now I moved in for $150 with A6o.
I figured I will knock out the other players for sure and I am ahead of Jonny’s range even if he calls.
He calls.
The board runs out K-8-2-T-3.
I announce “Ace high”. Jonny verbalises Ace-high as well. I am only beating 2 hands, but lo and behold he shows up with exactly A5o. Sweet.
Still, the session does not go well. Jonny and a couple of his friends who join us, are hitting for fun.
I lose four $200 buy-ins before I get a nice double-up with J9 – I flop trips and turn quads, and manage to get it all in by the river.
So, I have a useful $451 stack to attack Jonny (who has nearly $2k) when I pick up my next hand.
Aces. There is a $4 straddle by Scottish Colin (a decent and aggressive player). Jonny is on the big blind. Steve (one of Cheshire Jonny’s mates) limps in. He is incredibly passive pre-flop, even with monsters.
I limp, hoping Jonny or Colin will raise, but unfortunately we see a limped 5-way flop.
QT8 is the flop. Jonny checks and Steve leads out for $50. Esa from Finland moves all in for $200 or so.
Well. I have to assume a set is unlikely with no pre-flop raises. I think that top pair will bet aggressively here AND that I can get paid off by AQ/KQ and draws, so I move in for my $451.
Jonny calls. Steve folds pocket Tens, he says.
Esa has AQ. Jonny shows J9 for the flopped nuts ! A King on the turn gives me broadway outs, but the river is a blank for me (actually it paired the board).
Aarrgghh !To be honest, I think if I raise pre-flop with the Aces, I still lose my stack.
I have one more buy-in and make $350 back before the night is over. Jonny finished on $2,500 or so.
It was a fun game, despite the losses. The banter was good (albeit a but drunken). Jonny had a habit of calling everyone “cock”. This seemed to be light-hearted and basically friendly term coming from him, but it still felt a bit odd. Since he & I tangled so often, most of the cock-calling was aimed at me.
I bought a round of drinks, and hoped Jonny & Co would return the next day so I could have a crack at repatriating my chips !
In principle, there was a game whenever the casino was open. This was from about 30mins after we left port, or all-day (say noon – 2am) if we were at sea.
In practice, the game seemed to start around midnight.
However, as the days went by, the start time definitely drifted earlier to the point where I was showing up after dinner and finding a full game already in progress.
The busier games brought in new players. Especially the “casino fish” who would stroll over to the poker table after a good run at the roulette. These players were not timid about putting their chips in.
They were the typical “bad players” that tend to provoke mixed reactions. On the one hand, they were clearly terrible (and drunk) so they were huge value, but on the other hand they were noisy and slowed the game down, and of course they were very dangerous (especially to those with shallow bankrolls).
Personally, I find it baffling when a solid player says something on the lines of “I hate playing against real fish”. I just about understand why they say this, but it completely wrong-headed in my view.
Yes, these players can and will get very lucky. Yes, they can bust you multiple times whilst their luck holds. But if you can keep reloading and don’t run out of time, then those chips are coming right back (with interest).
Perhaps my natural style also has made be comfortable with a very volatile game, so I am willing to fight fire with fire and put all my chips in.
The first night that the roulette crew came by saw my first losing session.
When I sat down, Jonny from Cheshire had already taken chunks out of the rest of the table. The two hands I watched before sitting down saw him river a flush with 73s in one hand, and in another he cold-called a raise and a re-raise pre-flop with J8o. The flop came QT9r. He cleaned up again.
It was clear he had no preflop standards, but actually he did get paid the max on both hands which made me think that possibly he might know what he was doing.
He was prepared to make big raises pre-flop with almost any two cards. Once I realised that he had such a wide range, I decided to let him know I was in the game. I limped for $2 along with a couple of others. Jonny made it $15 from the blinds. Two of the limpers called this as well (these were the tight-weak players), so now I moved in for $150 with A6o.
I figured I will knock out the other players for sure and I am ahead of Jonny’s range even if he calls.
He calls.
The board runs out K-8-2-T-3.
I announce “Ace high”. Jonny verbalises Ace-high as well. I am only beating 2 hands, but lo and behold he shows up with exactly A5o. Sweet.
Still, the session does not go well. Jonny and a couple of his friends who join us, are hitting for fun.
I lose four $200 buy-ins before I get a nice double-up with J9 – I flop trips and turn quads, and manage to get it all in by the river.
So, I have a useful $451 stack to attack Jonny (who has nearly $2k) when I pick up my next hand.
Aces. There is a $4 straddle by Scottish Colin (a decent and aggressive player). Jonny is on the big blind. Steve (one of Cheshire Jonny’s mates) limps in. He is incredibly passive pre-flop, even with monsters.
I limp, hoping Jonny or Colin will raise, but unfortunately we see a limped 5-way flop.
QT8 is the flop. Jonny checks and Steve leads out for $50. Esa from Finland moves all in for $200 or so.
Well. I have to assume a set is unlikely with no pre-flop raises. I think that top pair will bet aggressively here AND that I can get paid off by AQ/KQ and draws, so I move in for my $451.
Jonny calls. Steve folds pocket Tens, he says.
Esa has AQ. Jonny shows J9 for the flopped nuts ! A King on the turn gives me broadway outs, but the river is a blank for me (actually it paired the board).
Aarrgghh !To be honest, I think if I raise pre-flop with the Aces, I still lose my stack.
I have one more buy-in and make $350 back before the night is over. Jonny finished on $2,500 or so.
It was a fun game, despite the losses. The banter was good (albeit a but drunken). Jonny had a habit of calling everyone “cock”. This seemed to be light-hearted and basically friendly term coming from him, but it still felt a bit odd. Since he & I tangled so often, most of the cock-calling was aimed at me.
I bought a round of drinks, and hoped Jonny & Co would return the next day so I could have a crack at repatriating my chips !
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