Took a week off from poker, then played home game's $130 one-rebuy tournament on Sunday.
Not good.
1. First hand of tournament, 16 players, start with 5,000 chips. Early position player limps, all fold, I call on button with A7h. Flop KT7, check around. Turn A. Interesting. Solid player bets out 125 from small blind, limper calls, I make it 525. SB reraises to 2000 straight, limper folds, I fold.
I can beat some worse two-pair hands here, but I felt good about the laydown against this player. He is a fearful type who I think would put me on QJ when I raised unless he had it himself.
2. After winning a couple of decent pots with AA and KK, I open AKh in middle position to 150 (blinds 25-50, by the way), only the big blind, a good tournament player who respects my play, calls.
Flop K76, two clubs. Check, I bet 300, call. Turn T, he bets out 550. Normally this bet is someone trying to protect a pair, usually top pair, thinking the raiser has A-high. I call to see what he does on the river. After a blank hits, he quickly and confidently bets 1500.
I do not think he would make this bet with KQ. This is a typical "bluff or the nuts" situation for this guy, and he doesn't generally try to bluff me. I reluctantly fold.
I'm not too happy with this hand. In retrospect, I think a much better line would have been to raise his turn bet to 1200-1400 or so. That would have defined this player's hand much better. If he raises, I can give it up and sleep better at night. If he calls, I should be able to get a free showdown on the river.
3. Blinds 50-100. The most aggressive and far and away the best player at the table opens for 300 from middle position. His opening range here is literally as wide as 22+, A2s+, A8o+, any two broadway, and any two suited connectors (including one- and two-gappers, down to even 52s, 42s and 32s). He has already doubled up or close to it.
All fold to me with JJ in the small blind and about 4500 chips. My default line against him is to just call and try to trap him after the flop with any playable hand in this spot. For whatever reason, I decide to stand up this time and reraise him, making it 1000 to go.
I'm hoping to take the pot there, but he calls with little hesitation. Flop is a terrible AQ9 rainbow. I bet 1800, he immediately reraises all-in, I immediately fold, and he laughs, saying I was trying to bluff him. I am crippled, having lost more than half of my stack.
I think I played this hand about as bad as I could, especially against this player.
First, preflop: With this stack size, my reraise puts me in a pretty bad spot. I am in the small blind with a hand that will not be easy to play against an aggressive player. By bloating the pot, any continuation bet will commit most of my chips to the pot. This is not good with an overcard likely to come more than 50 percent of the time.
Also, I think my raise was too small. With this hand, if I am going to raise at all, I should have made it 1500 at least to cut down on his pot odds. (As played, he called 700 to win 1400, plus whatever he could win after the flop.)
As bad as it seems in general, my right play may have been to just move in for the whole 4500. AA, KK and QQ will call and crush me, of course, but he is the kind of player who would be willing to race with a lower pair, AK or AQ.
After the flop, given the way I played it preflop, I think I have to check and fold with my stack size. The continuation bet (which was a bit big anyway) put more than half of my chips in the pot, and I couldn't stand a reraise.
I feel sick about a check, though, because I know it is like handing the pot to him when I have already invested nearly a quarter of my stack preflop.
A butchering all the way around. In this situation, I now think my best plays were either:
1. Call 300, then make a large check-raise (possibly all-in) on favorable flops. Check-fold on flops like the actual one.
2. Move all-in before the flop, with the possibility of getting called by a worse hand.
I got the rest of my money in a few hands later with AQc vs. AKd and didn't suck out.
Making money in poker is hard enough without fucking things up yourself. I feel like I did that yesterday.
Did I run into straights in the first two hands? Would he be crazy enough to move in with JT on the third hand? Did I get bluffed there, too? Did I get bluffed at all? Am I going crazy?
I wish I could give my opponents truth serum at the end of the day to find out what happened.
Those decisions are what separate the winners from the losers at the poker table.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
265th place
Pat finished 265th in the main event, cashing for $45,422.
He played short-stacked, relative to the field, for most of days 3 and 4. Great showing.
He has the temperament and game to do well in big buy-in tournaments. I can't wait to see what event he takes on next.
He played short-stacked, relative to the field, for most of days 3 and 4. Great showing.
He has the temperament and game to do well in big buy-in tournaments. I can't wait to see what event he takes on next.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Friends cashes in main event
Think a good thought for my friend, Pat Atchison, who is still alive in the main event at the World Series of Poker.
He has started playing bigger tournaments this year and has already picked up more than $58,000 worth of cashes.
There are about 400 players remaining, and Pat has a below-average stack. However, he is guaranteed at least $34,664.
UPDATE: Pat advanced to Day 4 with a below-average, but workable, stack of 198,000. There are 337 players left, and Pat is guaranteed at least $39,445.
He has started playing bigger tournaments this year and has already picked up more than $58,000 worth of cashes.
There are about 400 players remaining, and Pat has a below-average stack. However, he is guaranteed at least $34,664.
UPDATE: Pat advanced to Day 4 with a below-average, but workable, stack of 198,000. There are 337 players left, and Pat is guaranteed at least $39,445.
Monday, July 9, 2007
I love tournaments
Days like these remind me why I fight through the frustration to keep playing tournaments.
I won a $130 one-rebuy tournament Sunday, beating 23 other players to pocket a profit of $820 after deducting my two rebuys, my 20-percent swap with a friend (the same one who outdrew me twice in the 2-5 game last week) and tip.
Basically, I sucked out twice to chip up, once with AJ vs. QQ, then with TT vs. KK. I did have both players covered, but each one would have chopped out more than half of my stack at the time.
The final table went smoothly, as I busted a couple players and picked up a lot of pots with preflop raises, especially on the bubble (five spots paid). Most importantly, I won three preflop races, busting the 11th-place finisher with 66 vs. QJ, fourth place with A9 vs. 66 and winning the event with 22 vs. AQ. The final board came J986K. Talk about all around it.
I really enjoy playing tournaments, even these fast-paced crapshoots. (Though this Sunday tournament does not have a bad structure at all for a daily tournament. 4,000 chips, first three blinds 30 minutes, blinds 20 minutes after that.) It's fun to start with 1/25th of the chips and end up with all of them.
However, the variance in these tournaments is tough to take. The difference between first and second place today was about $500, and it was decided by a hand where I moved in preflop with a barely better than 50 percent chance to win. If I had lost with A9 vs. 66, I would have had a much tougher time four-handed and very well could have finished second or even third.
I have just started "The Poker Tournament Formula" by Arnold Snyder. He's known as a blackjack expert, but feedback about Snyder's book on my favorite poker forum, twoplustwo.com, has been favorable. He is one of the few authors to really address the daily, fast-paced tournaments that most low-level players enter. Most of the poker books have focused on larger, big buy-in events that give players much more play. The fast tournaments quickly become all about making moves at pots, often moving all-in on any pot that can be won.
Tournament strategy is really more important than poker strategy in these events.
Cash games are the bread and butter of the professional grinder, but it is so easy for boredom to set in. As long as tournaments don't sap your energy for cash games (as they have done for me in the past), I think they're a worthwhile diversion.
I won a $130 one-rebuy tournament Sunday, beating 23 other players to pocket a profit of $820 after deducting my two rebuys, my 20-percent swap with a friend (the same one who outdrew me twice in the 2-5 game last week) and tip.
Basically, I sucked out twice to chip up, once with AJ vs. QQ, then with TT vs. KK. I did have both players covered, but each one would have chopped out more than half of my stack at the time.
The final table went smoothly, as I busted a couple players and picked up a lot of pots with preflop raises, especially on the bubble (five spots paid). Most importantly, I won three preflop races, busting the 11th-place finisher with 66 vs. QJ, fourth place with A9 vs. 66 and winning the event with 22 vs. AQ. The final board came J986K. Talk about all around it.
I really enjoy playing tournaments, even these fast-paced crapshoots. (Though this Sunday tournament does not have a bad structure at all for a daily tournament. 4,000 chips, first three blinds 30 minutes, blinds 20 minutes after that.) It's fun to start with 1/25th of the chips and end up with all of them.
However, the variance in these tournaments is tough to take. The difference between first and second place today was about $500, and it was decided by a hand where I moved in preflop with a barely better than 50 percent chance to win. If I had lost with A9 vs. 66, I would have had a much tougher time four-handed and very well could have finished second or even third.
I have just started "The Poker Tournament Formula" by Arnold Snyder. He's known as a blackjack expert, but feedback about Snyder's book on my favorite poker forum, twoplustwo.com, has been favorable. He is one of the few authors to really address the daily, fast-paced tournaments that most low-level players enter. Most of the poker books have focused on larger, big buy-in events that give players much more play. The fast tournaments quickly become all about making moves at pots, often moving all-in on any pot that can be won.
Tournament strategy is really more important than poker strategy in these events.
Cash games are the bread and butter of the professional grinder, but it is so easy for boredom to set in. As long as tournaments don't sap your energy for cash games (as they have done for me in the past), I think they're a worthwhile diversion.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
On the sidelines
Keeping a home game organized is harder than it looks.
Taking tournament entries, giving seat assignments, counting up rebuys, cutting up the prize pool, starting a cash game list, selling chips, condensing tournament tables. I spent the first five hours of Tuesday night on my feet.
It's not fun work, but I like making sure everything is done right. When I go play a tournament somewhere, and the host has no idea about balancing tables or a reasonable tournament structure, I'm upset. I like making sure our players have a good time.
I got into a cash game later, but only played a few hands before it broke, picking up a clean $44 profit.
I'm in charge again Friday, but there's usually not as many players, giving me more of a chance to play.
Taking tournament entries, giving seat assignments, counting up rebuys, cutting up the prize pool, starting a cash game list, selling chips, condensing tournament tables. I spent the first five hours of Tuesday night on my feet.
It's not fun work, but I like making sure everything is done right. When I go play a tournament somewhere, and the host has no idea about balancing tables or a reasonable tournament structure, I'm upset. I like making sure our players have a good time.
I got into a cash game later, but only played a few hands before it broke, picking up a clean $44 profit.
I'm in charge again Friday, but there's usually not as many players, giving me more of a chance to play.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Royal flush, but not much money
Eight hours of play netted a loss of $80. Our regular home game host left for Vegas and the World Series today, so I was nominated to run the game while he's gone.
We had 25 players show up for our $130 one-rebuy tournament. I made my first royal flush, winning (wow!) about 1,500 tournament chips. I limped UTG in the first level with KJh. Everyone folds, and the blinds check. Flop AJT with two hearts. Sweet. Check, check, I bet 100 into 150 pot, call, fold.
Turn Qh. Check, bet 200, quick call. River blank. Check, bet 1000. Snap-call. He had AK for the straight. Why couldn't this be in the cash game with him having a flush or making a full on the river of something?
Build up from 4,000 to about 9,000, and we break down to two tables. 100-200 with a 25 ante. Three limpers, and I raise 1,000 more from the big blind with AQo. Second limper calls.
Flop is a desert, 974 rainbow. I dutifully bet 1800. He thinks, adjusts his ridiculous sunglasses and iPod, and goes all-in for about 6000. I muck. He is a new player who had seemingly been playing pretty tight. He might have flopped a set. Hard to believe he just limped behind with JJ or TT, but I guess weirder things have happened.
So that took a chunk out of me. With 15 players left, I am moved to balance tables. 150-300, 25 ante. UTG makes it 800, late position cold-calls, I call 500 more, getting more than 4-1, with 65. Flop pretty good, 765, but with two hearts. Check, raiser quickly goes all-in for more than 7,000.
I call my money off, pretty sure he's just protecting an overpair, but he a better hand to go against mine, AJh. Turn A gives him more outs, river 7h, so he beats me both ways (bigger two pair and nut flush). I take my position on the rail.
Start 2-5 pot-limit. Fold for a while, win one nice pot when I flop a set, but lose it back and then some when someone flops a set against my AK on a K82 rainbow board. Have about 200 when I reraise an opener to 65 with JJ. He goes all-in and covers my last 130. I don't like it at all, but I call. (I'm getting better and better at doing that.) He has QQ, and I don't suck out.
I buy back in and play, I think, pretty well. In the most important pot, I call a raise in a multi-way pot with 66. Flop is an interesting 542 with two hearts. Raiser loudly bets, "Pot!" for 95. All fold to me. He seems weak, and if he does have the overpair, I should have an escape hatch of six outs. I go all-in for about 450.
When he hesitates, I'm almost sure I'm good. He doesn't like to give up a pot, and he tanks for a while, talking about how I probably just have a draw. He finally folds, and I am about even again.
The game gets shorter, and most of the remaining players are reasonably tight. Big pots are tough to come by. I steal some, get caught a couple times, and finish up $50 for the session. My $130 tournament loss leaves me down $80.
On to Tuesday, which is usually our biggest game of the week.
We had 25 players show up for our $130 one-rebuy tournament. I made my first royal flush, winning (wow!) about 1,500 tournament chips. I limped UTG in the first level with KJh. Everyone folds, and the blinds check. Flop AJT with two hearts. Sweet. Check, check, I bet 100 into 150 pot, call, fold.
Turn Qh. Check, bet 200, quick call. River blank. Check, bet 1000. Snap-call. He had AK for the straight. Why couldn't this be in the cash game with him having a flush or making a full on the river of something?
Build up from 4,000 to about 9,000, and we break down to two tables. 100-200 with a 25 ante. Three limpers, and I raise 1,000 more from the big blind with AQo. Second limper calls.
Flop is a desert, 974 rainbow. I dutifully bet 1800. He thinks, adjusts his ridiculous sunglasses and iPod, and goes all-in for about 6000. I muck. He is a new player who had seemingly been playing pretty tight. He might have flopped a set. Hard to believe he just limped behind with JJ or TT, but I guess weirder things have happened.
So that took a chunk out of me. With 15 players left, I am moved to balance tables. 150-300, 25 ante. UTG makes it 800, late position cold-calls, I call 500 more, getting more than 4-1, with 65. Flop pretty good, 765, but with two hearts. Check, raiser quickly goes all-in for more than 7,000.
I call my money off, pretty sure he's just protecting an overpair, but he a better hand to go against mine, AJh. Turn A gives him more outs, river 7h, so he beats me both ways (bigger two pair and nut flush). I take my position on the rail.
Start 2-5 pot-limit. Fold for a while, win one nice pot when I flop a set, but lose it back and then some when someone flops a set against my AK on a K82 rainbow board. Have about 200 when I reraise an opener to 65 with JJ. He goes all-in and covers my last 130. I don't like it at all, but I call. (I'm getting better and better at doing that.) He has QQ, and I don't suck out.
I buy back in and play, I think, pretty well. In the most important pot, I call a raise in a multi-way pot with 66. Flop is an interesting 542 with two hearts. Raiser loudly bets, "Pot!" for 95. All fold to me. He seems weak, and if he does have the overpair, I should have an escape hatch of six outs. I go all-in for about 450.
When he hesitates, I'm almost sure I'm good. He doesn't like to give up a pot, and he tanks for a while, talking about how I probably just have a draw. He finally folds, and I am about even again.
The game gets shorter, and most of the remaining players are reasonably tight. Big pots are tough to come by. I steal some, get caught a couple times, and finish up $50 for the session. My $130 tournament loss leaves me down $80.
On to Tuesday, which is usually our biggest game of the week.
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