Avoid Bluffing.
Cheap Draws.
Exploit (Fully) Good Hands.
Introduce Judgement/Knowledge/Learning
Manipulate Novice Opponents.
Position !
Quickly Recognise Situations To Unlock Value
Winner [X] (You !)
ZOMG .....
__________
It didn't work, however.
Thursday 29 April 2010
Monday 26 April 2010
Double Trouble
I turned up at The International last Tuesday night with one objective – to play SCRABBLE (and win). We’ve had some great matches at the club, in fact, with several tough poker players showing they are multi-talented.
I have a good record but lack of practice was a factor, and the field looked dangerous. Fair play to Sam Acheampong who was one of the first to put his name down (not his actual name – that doesn’t go in Scrabble) despite being a little outmatched.
Thing is, you never know with Sam. Maybe he could bink this thing as well (nb: BINK does go). I was a little wary when I drew him in the first round.
Sam, in fact, nearly didn’t play despite coming to the club specifically for the tournament.
Actually, when I arrived, I found him playing the £25 Deep’n’Steep. Apparently when he got through the door, he had forgotten why he’d come and clicked “auto-register”. Still, he assured me he’d probably still be available for the 7:30 Scrabble ;)
I resolved that there was no way I would attempt to play both, especially since I was planning to take down the Scrabble. However, I spotted Neil (definitely one of the favourites) at Table B.
This was enough of an excuse – and I was in. My seat was directly to the left of Sam !
There is a report on the Scrabble itself in the International Forum.
This blog is going to be about my attempt to do the Poker-Scrabble double on the same night.
I only had time to play half an orbit before I went off to organize the draw and then play my first round. This was enough time, though, for Sam to divest himself of his tournament duties (6-2 offsuit, how did he miss ??).
My table was broken whilst I got on with my match, and when I came back to play one hand 30mins later, I had to fold to a big 3-bet behind me from a solid player.
The table asks me what Acronym I’m playing today – I can’t think of one, so I say “SCRABBLE”.
One orbit later I came back and found my stack diminishing – down to 6k at 150/300. Playing only about 2 hands an hour, you don’t get too much choice in hand selection so this time I decide to over-limp in EP with 4-3o. The same player 3-bets again. I think “FIP” and call the extra 1,000. The dealer points out it’s actually another 400 on top of that. OK, I call.
Flop: 7-4-3. Check, ship, call. Kings no good sir !
30mins later I get to come back for another hand. I am on the Big Blind and with 7,800 at 800/1600 I figure it’s going in, but I find a fold to an UTG raise. I fold my SB as well.
Now I have only 5,400 and now I face a MP shove from an equally short-stacked player. I find A-5 and it has to be a call. The Big Blind thinks for a bit and decides he has to call.
J-4 for the initial raiser, A-5 here and 3-3 in the blinds.
That's not too bad ....
Flop 4-6-2.
Turn J.
River: 3 !
The BB takes a moment to realise I have scooped with a straight. Having trebled up, I get up to continue my Scrabble semi-final, but there are only 90 seconds til the break so I play one more – pocket Aces !
I end up all in pre vs 87s – I have to sweat an open ender on the turn but finish the level on 36k !
I see with amazement that there are only 19 players left – I’m thinking I may actually be final-tabling both comps.
Unfortunately, the “steep” part kicked in and having raise-folded one hand, I pushed with ATs (I only had 28k at 1,500/3,000 blinds), called by AQ. Queen high flop wasn’t great although the dealer gave it a go with a King on the turn. Somewhat surprisingly no Jack came and I fell in 15th.
Neil, meanwhile, did go on to make the final table and chop the comp. He would have had an excellent shot at the double but unfortunately he ran into Ade in the Semis and lost despite scoring not far short of 400 himself.
So, I have learnt the meaning of another word:
SCRABBLE, I now realise, stands for: Sometimes Call Recklessly And Bink (Be Lucky) – Easy !
I have a good record but lack of practice was a factor, and the field looked dangerous. Fair play to Sam Acheampong who was one of the first to put his name down (not his actual name – that doesn’t go in Scrabble) despite being a little outmatched.
Thing is, you never know with Sam. Maybe he could bink this thing as well (nb: BINK does go). I was a little wary when I drew him in the first round.
Sam, in fact, nearly didn’t play despite coming to the club specifically for the tournament.
Actually, when I arrived, I found him playing the £25 Deep’n’Steep. Apparently when he got through the door, he had forgotten why he’d come and clicked “auto-register”. Still, he assured me he’d probably still be available for the 7:30 Scrabble ;)
I resolved that there was no way I would attempt to play both, especially since I was planning to take down the Scrabble. However, I spotted Neil (definitely one of the favourites) at Table B.
This was enough of an excuse – and I was in. My seat was directly to the left of Sam !
There is a report on the Scrabble itself in the International Forum.
This blog is going to be about my attempt to do the Poker-Scrabble double on the same night.
I only had time to play half an orbit before I went off to organize the draw and then play my first round. This was enough time, though, for Sam to divest himself of his tournament duties (6-2 offsuit, how did he miss ??).
My table was broken whilst I got on with my match, and when I came back to play one hand 30mins later, I had to fold to a big 3-bet behind me from a solid player.
The table asks me what Acronym I’m playing today – I can’t think of one, so I say “SCRABBLE”.
One orbit later I came back and found my stack diminishing – down to 6k at 150/300. Playing only about 2 hands an hour, you don’t get too much choice in hand selection so this time I decide to over-limp in EP with 4-3o. The same player 3-bets again. I think “FIP” and call the extra 1,000. The dealer points out it’s actually another 400 on top of that. OK, I call.
Flop: 7-4-3. Check, ship, call. Kings no good sir !
30mins later I get to come back for another hand. I am on the Big Blind and with 7,800 at 800/1600 I figure it’s going in, but I find a fold to an UTG raise. I fold my SB as well.
Now I have only 5,400 and now I face a MP shove from an equally short-stacked player. I find A-5 and it has to be a call. The Big Blind thinks for a bit and decides he has to call.
J-4 for the initial raiser, A-5 here and 3-3 in the blinds.
That's not too bad ....
Flop 4-6-2.
Turn J.
River: 3 !
The BB takes a moment to realise I have scooped with a straight. Having trebled up, I get up to continue my Scrabble semi-final, but there are only 90 seconds til the break so I play one more – pocket Aces !
I end up all in pre vs 87s – I have to sweat an open ender on the turn but finish the level on 36k !
I see with amazement that there are only 19 players left – I’m thinking I may actually be final-tabling both comps.
Unfortunately, the “steep” part kicked in and having raise-folded one hand, I pushed with ATs (I only had 28k at 1,500/3,000 blinds), called by AQ. Queen high flop wasn’t great although the dealer gave it a go with a King on the turn. Somewhat surprisingly no Jack came and I fell in 15th.
Neil, meanwhile, did go on to make the final table and chop the comp. He would have had an excellent shot at the double but unfortunately he ran into Ade in the Semis and lost despite scoring not far short of 400 himself.
So, I have learnt the meaning of another word:
SCRABBLE, I now realise, stands for: Sometimes Call Recklessly And Bink (Be Lucky) – Easy !
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Poker as SPORT
When I walked into the club last Wednesday, a number of people came up to me to ask we whether I would be playing "No, No, No" again.
I was able to answer "No" (just the once). Tonight was "SPORT".
Almost universally, the other players immediately offered a possible meaning for today's acronym (at least for the "S" - some of them petered out after that).
Kirit came up with the quickest and most complete alternative version: "Shove, Push, Overbet, Re-shove and Tilt"
I decided to keep the real meanings to myself for the time being (mainly because I didn't want to stifle the creative guessing ... )
S for Spew ? S for Solid ? S for Stud ? S for Stacks ?
I can now reveal that this is what I had in mind:
S for Situations / Situational. I do believe that optimum poker is about identifying, understanding and exploiting the situations that arise. A situation can be as simple as "I have 8BB on the button; it's folded to me; I have two cards; I'm all-in !".
Most are a little more complex, and there can be dozens of factors to consider. However, by paying attention to the key variables - stacks, position, betting patterns and so on - we can make more good decisions.
In today's case, I intended "S" to focus me on actively seeking out good situations that didn't rely excessively on hitting good cards.
P for Position. Many of my acronyms will contain "P" since position is so crucial. I like to think it has the special property that no matter how much importance you have given to it, it's always a little bit more important than that.
Position is of course vital in creating and maximising many Situations.
O for Opponents. Playing at The International, one is generally facing a strong field. I do believe that the standard of play is high. I have certainly found that a standard £100 MTT here attracts a tougher field than a GUKPT ot a WSOP event.
The other thing is that I will know a lot of the players. In any case, I was conscious that I wanted to actively bring my knowledge and history with players into my thinking.
Studying the Opponents and their Position is of course useful in identifying good Situations.
R for Reads. When I first started playing, I believed it was a waste of time looking for reads. I thought betting patterns and other objective information were much more important.
Part of the reason I did not pay much attention to reads was that I knew I was too inexperienced to process all the basic info, let alone get into the ephemera.
Now, however, I come to realise that once you and your opponents reach a certain level then the relative importance of live reads grows considerably. I am a long way from being able to do this competently, but it's important to practice.
My plan was to explicitly look for and make reads and then compare my reads with the reality. I resolved to try to make reads in hands that I was not involved with as well, to gain extra practice "for free".
Naturally, Reads combined with information on the Opponents and the power of Position can put us in a good Situation
T for Timing. The "Timing" here refers to a number of tournament concepts - thinking about the stage of the event, deciding when to change gears, evaluating good opportunities to make a squeeze or a steal etc. It's also a reference to taking my time in making important decisions.
Well-judged Timing, strong Reads on the Opponent and good Position can make for a great Situation.
Just after the break, I thought I found a good Situation: I had Position on my my Opponent, Robin Dhinsa. I felt I had a good Read that his raise was weak (he himself was in hijack seat where he would be raising a lot) and that he could fold a lot of hands to a shove.
Timing looked good - I had 20 Big blinds and for Robin to call would be over 1/3 of his stack.
I re-raised all-in with 7h4h.
Robin dwelled. It seemed I had made the right move.
However, Robin obviously believes fishing is a sport as well and made the call with KhQh (only kidding Robin).
Unbelievably, I missed. Next time, I am playing "WHOOPS".
I was able to answer "No" (just the once). Tonight was "SPORT".
Almost universally, the other players immediately offered a possible meaning for today's acronym (at least for the "S" - some of them petered out after that).
Kirit came up with the quickest and most complete alternative version: "Shove, Push, Overbet, Re-shove and Tilt"
I decided to keep the real meanings to myself for the time being (mainly because I didn't want to stifle the creative guessing ... )
S for Spew ? S for Solid ? S for Stud ? S for Stacks ?
I can now reveal that this is what I had in mind:
S for Situations / Situational. I do believe that optimum poker is about identifying, understanding and exploiting the situations that arise. A situation can be as simple as "I have 8BB on the button; it's folded to me; I have two cards; I'm all-in !".
Most are a little more complex, and there can be dozens of factors to consider. However, by paying attention to the key variables - stacks, position, betting patterns and so on - we can make more good decisions.
In today's case, I intended "S" to focus me on actively seeking out good situations that didn't rely excessively on hitting good cards.
P for Position. Many of my acronyms will contain "P" since position is so crucial. I like to think it has the special property that no matter how much importance you have given to it, it's always a little bit more important than that.
Position is of course vital in creating and maximising many Situations.
O for Opponents. Playing at The International, one is generally facing a strong field. I do believe that the standard of play is high. I have certainly found that a standard £100 MTT here attracts a tougher field than a GUKPT ot a WSOP event.
The other thing is that I will know a lot of the players. In any case, I was conscious that I wanted to actively bring my knowledge and history with players into my thinking.
Studying the Opponents and their Position is of course useful in identifying good Situations.
R for Reads. When I first started playing, I believed it was a waste of time looking for reads. I thought betting patterns and other objective information were much more important.
Part of the reason I did not pay much attention to reads was that I knew I was too inexperienced to process all the basic info, let alone get into the ephemera.
Now, however, I come to realise that once you and your opponents reach a certain level then the relative importance of live reads grows considerably. I am a long way from being able to do this competently, but it's important to practice.
My plan was to explicitly look for and make reads and then compare my reads with the reality. I resolved to try to make reads in hands that I was not involved with as well, to gain extra practice "for free".
Naturally, Reads combined with information on the Opponents and the power of Position can put us in a good Situation
T for Timing. The "Timing" here refers to a number of tournament concepts - thinking about the stage of the event, deciding when to change gears, evaluating good opportunities to make a squeeze or a steal etc. It's also a reference to taking my time in making important decisions.
Well-judged Timing, strong Reads on the Opponent and good Position can make for a great Situation.
Just after the break, I thought I found a good Situation: I had Position on my my Opponent, Robin Dhinsa. I felt I had a good Read that his raise was weak (he himself was in hijack seat where he would be raising a lot) and that he could fold a lot of hands to a shove.
Timing looked good - I had 20 Big blinds and for Robin to call would be over 1/3 of his stack.
I re-raised all-in with 7h4h.
Robin dwelled. It seemed I had made the right move.
However, Robin obviously believes fishing is a sport as well and made the call with KhQh (only kidding Robin).
Unbelievably, I missed. Next time, I am playing "WHOOPS".
Friday 16 April 2010
No, No, No !
I do like to come into a tournament armed with a good acronym.
Recent examples include:
"TV poker" = play Tight, and Value bet - I used that one for the HORSE tournament at the LPM festival.
"TOP" (or "POT") = Tight Or Positional; this was supposed to be for cash games to remind me to think about hand selection relative to my position in the deal. Admittedly, I didn't really use that one. I just said "POT" a lot.
In my most recent outing to the £100 Wednesday Freezeout at The International, I came with "No, No, No" which stood for:
1. No Show: I tend to have a bit of an addiction to showing my hand (i.e. generally showing bluffs - I get many opportunities to do this; occasionally to show my hero folds). I think it is pretty clear that a good rule is never to show and so the first "No" was to remind me of this, and I stuck with it almost 100%
2. No Hurry: Many times in the past (often in big tournaments) I have regretted not taking a little longer to make a really big decision. I tend to act very quickly.
Online I will often finish an MTT without having used a single second of my timebank. Live, I have only been "clocked" twice ever - each time it was an all-in call in a bracelet event. So, I am not exactly pushing the boundaries of an acceptable pace of play.
I should take a little time when the big hands play out, and I did also consciously slow down my routine decisions a little so that I could start to get into a habit of thinking a bit more about my actions.
3. No Fear: a reminder to myself that if the conditions seem right then I must be prepared to put my tournament life in jeopardy - whether it be the important thin value bets, the all-in calls, the strong reads, the short-stack shove with air or the trademark H-bomb check-raise bluff.
As a rule, I am not exactly nitty but I do sometimes hesitate when it comes to being actually all-in, and even I do need to remind myself that it's important to be committed to the moves we have decided upon.
I think, as well, that it's important to try to project no doubts that our opponents may pick up on.
With this mantra in mind, I set out once again on my mission to finally win something at the club. I resolved to play a genuinely solid game and - to many people's surprise - I actually did tighten up a lot on the day.
Admittedly, first hand I opened UTG with 8s7s . I was paid off 3 streets of value as the board came K-7-2-7-5 . My opponent was a bit upset at himself.
I played relatively few hands (for me, at least) and I also found the fold button in many spots where I wouldn't normally. I raise-folded 77 - TT about half a dozen times at least to strong action. Normally I think "they must have AK - let's race !"
I had a lucky break when I raised AcKh from UTG+1, with a MP caller and Terry "Final Table" Simpson calling in the BB.
I decided to check the JcTc9d flop - checked around.
On the turn, good news/bad news: the Qc.
Terry led out just 500 into a pot of nearly 2,000. I was not quite sure what to make of it. I felt I had to raise for value and made it 2,300. MP folded and Terry insta-shoved about 6k more. I have to call, I think. He showed 6c2c . Luckily a club hit the river and I was sitting on a nice stack.
I was pleased at my play in one other pot that I remember. Having raised early with 7h4h and received a call from a loose player in the blinds, I checked the 5c3c2h flop and called when the BB bet the Ac turn.
The river was an offsuit King and I found raise on the river - called by Ace-Ten.
In this hand, I was pretty sure he did not have a flush but in the past I have generally worried that if I raise I may get bluff-shoved and have to make a hero fold.
In this case, I had decided I was calling a shove, but as it was I probably got full value anyway.
Talking of river shoves, there was a funny hand against Chen when I had KhTh.
On the flop (Q9x), I pick up a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw and call Chen's lead bet.
On the turn (Jack), I make the nut straight but somehow I don't realise, and I check behind even though there is now a flush draw on board.
The river pairs the nine and puts a flush there. I am thinking to myself that I may hero-call Chen with King-high if he bets (say) 3/4 of the pot.
However, he over-bet shoves more than twice the pot! I ponder whether I can hero-call now and then after a little while I check my cards as I go to fold, and see I have the straight!
Now, against Chen, I snap call and am good against his A-9.
I began to feel that I had a good chance at my first win but at the 2-table stage, it all unravels after we move up to the TV table.
Phil King opens in UTG+1. I have him well covered and raise with AK. Now the BB wants to shove,
Phil folds (TT apparently), and I have to call 13k into 22k leaving myself with 7k if I lose (about 9bb at that stage).
I can hardly fold (or can I ? If I fold, I have 25bb).
The BB has QQ and holds.
Soon after I shove KsQs and am called by A-8o in MP (a bit surprising !).
The first two cards out are Ts, 9s so I have 18 outs 3 times.....
3d ... No,
7d ... No,
4h ... No !
Need a new mantra for next time ...
Recent examples include:
"TV poker" = play Tight, and Value bet - I used that one for the HORSE tournament at the LPM festival.
"TOP" (or "POT") = Tight Or Positional; this was supposed to be for cash games to remind me to think about hand selection relative to my position in the deal. Admittedly, I didn't really use that one. I just said "POT" a lot.
In my most recent outing to the £100 Wednesday Freezeout at The International, I came with "No, No, No" which stood for:
1. No Show: I tend to have a bit of an addiction to showing my hand (i.e. generally showing bluffs - I get many opportunities to do this; occasionally to show my hero folds). I think it is pretty clear that a good rule is never to show and so the first "No" was to remind me of this, and I stuck with it almost 100%
2. No Hurry: Many times in the past (often in big tournaments) I have regretted not taking a little longer to make a really big decision. I tend to act very quickly.
Online I will often finish an MTT without having used a single second of my timebank. Live, I have only been "clocked" twice ever - each time it was an all-in call in a bracelet event. So, I am not exactly pushing the boundaries of an acceptable pace of play.
I should take a little time when the big hands play out, and I did also consciously slow down my routine decisions a little so that I could start to get into a habit of thinking a bit more about my actions.
3. No Fear: a reminder to myself that if the conditions seem right then I must be prepared to put my tournament life in jeopardy - whether it be the important thin value bets, the all-in calls, the strong reads, the short-stack shove with air or the trademark H-bomb check-raise bluff.
As a rule, I am not exactly nitty but I do sometimes hesitate when it comes to being actually all-in, and even I do need to remind myself that it's important to be committed to the moves we have decided upon.
I think, as well, that it's important to try to project no doubts that our opponents may pick up on.
With this mantra in mind, I set out once again on my mission to finally win something at the club. I resolved to play a genuinely solid game and - to many people's surprise - I actually did tighten up a lot on the day.
Admittedly, first hand I opened UTG with 8s7s . I was paid off 3 streets of value as the board came K-7-2-7-5 . My opponent was a bit upset at himself.
I played relatively few hands (for me, at least) and I also found the fold button in many spots where I wouldn't normally. I raise-folded 77 - TT about half a dozen times at least to strong action. Normally I think "they must have AK - let's race !"
I had a lucky break when I raised AcKh from UTG+1, with a MP caller and Terry "Final Table" Simpson calling in the BB.
I decided to check the JcTc9d flop - checked around.
On the turn, good news/bad news: the Qc.
Terry led out just 500 into a pot of nearly 2,000. I was not quite sure what to make of it. I felt I had to raise for value and made it 2,300. MP folded and Terry insta-shoved about 6k more. I have to call, I think. He showed 6c2c . Luckily a club hit the river and I was sitting on a nice stack.
I was pleased at my play in one other pot that I remember. Having raised early with 7h4h and received a call from a loose player in the blinds, I checked the 5c3c2h flop and called when the BB bet the Ac turn.
The river was an offsuit King and I found raise on the river - called by Ace-Ten.
In this hand, I was pretty sure he did not have a flush but in the past I have generally worried that if I raise I may get bluff-shoved and have to make a hero fold.
In this case, I had decided I was calling a shove, but as it was I probably got full value anyway.
Talking of river shoves, there was a funny hand against Chen when I had KhTh.
On the flop (Q9x), I pick up a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw and call Chen's lead bet.
On the turn (Jack), I make the nut straight but somehow I don't realise, and I check behind even though there is now a flush draw on board.
The river pairs the nine and puts a flush there. I am thinking to myself that I may hero-call Chen with King-high if he bets (say) 3/4 of the pot.
However, he over-bet shoves more than twice the pot! I ponder whether I can hero-call now and then after a little while I check my cards as I go to fold, and see I have the straight!
Now, against Chen, I snap call and am good against his A-9.
I began to feel that I had a good chance at my first win but at the 2-table stage, it all unravels after we move up to the TV table.
Phil King opens in UTG+1. I have him well covered and raise with AK. Now the BB wants to shove,
Phil folds (TT apparently), and I have to call 13k into 22k leaving myself with 7k if I lose (about 9bb at that stage).
I can hardly fold (or can I ? If I fold, I have 25bb).
The BB has QQ and holds.
Soon after I shove KsQs and am called by A-8o in MP (a bit surprising !).
The first two cards out are Ts, 9s so I have 18 outs 3 times.....
3d ... No,
7d ... No,
4h ... No !
Need a new mantra for next time ...
Tuesday 13 April 2010
A - Z of Poker (abridged)
Avoid being cold-decked; even fold good hands (if justified).
Karma? Luck? Meaningless ... nothing outweighs profits / quality results.
Simple truth: unite volume with experience & you'll zoom !
Karma? Luck? Meaningless ... nothing outweighs profits / quality results.
Simple truth: unite volume with experience & you'll zoom !
Sunday 11 April 2010
Post Mortem
It's rather incredible that 3 months have elapsed since I last posted. I doubt I have any readers left ! Previous analysis has shown me that hits are closely correlated with posts.
It's not entirely due to a lack of blogworthy activity, although it is true that being back at work has slowed me down in terms of playing and then in terms of finding time to write about it.
Several times, in fact, I have made notes at the table with the intention of committing my thoughts to the blogosphere, but then time has passed by and the events no longer seem sufficiently topical.
This post will have to serve as a placeholder for posts that will follow shortly.
It's not entirely due to a lack of blogworthy activity, although it is true that being back at work has slowed me down in terms of playing and then in terms of finding time to write about it.
Several times, in fact, I have made notes at the table with the intention of committing my thoughts to the blogosphere, but then time has passed by and the events no longer seem sufficiently topical.
This post will have to serve as a placeholder for posts that will follow shortly.
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