Yay. I had one of those creepy "not gonna be a good day" feelings when our final walkthrough for our house that we close on tomorrow ran over by 30 minutes and put me late for the start of WCOOP #15. Unlike Phil Hellmuth, I like to see every single hand if possible.
Upon sitting in about 30 hands into the tournament, I see that I have Gemany's top female pro, Katja Thater to my left. Hot dang.
Started decently well, hitting a flush and trips to build from ~2900 where the stack was when I arrived up to around $3300 at the early low limits. From there it went all down hill. I can't blame starting hands for sure. I got dealt AA, KK, QQ a great deal, but to save you the annoying bad beat stories, I'll just say that completing with KK, and getting raised by A5Q rainbow maniac, you expect to win some chips over time. Time just ran out too quick.
It was a wonderful table though. Two donks (TIJO and HlwdMike) were donating chips to everyone else but me. Just one of those days where the table tards bleed you dry with hands like the aforementioned A5Q rainbow vs. KK, and then donate those chips to players like Katja.
I'm looking forward to the next WCOOP. Satelliting in was pretty easy, and honestly, the table I was playing was easier than most 1/2 tables at AP. It's one of those where you expect to double or triple your money if you stay all day. Just can't do that in a tournament.... those pesky starting chip stack and limit increases, etc.
Time for a nap.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Should you ever fold AA preflop?
I'm not off my rocker. I'm just considering the idea of folding in a +EV situation, when the edge isn't huge in a tournament. In a recent article written for us by Learn Texas Holdem, they give an example of a time when folding might be a tactically solid play.
In the example, you have 4 left in a large tournament field where #3 pays significantly better than the #4 finisher. Your are short stack with 10k. The two ahead of you have 11k and 12k respectively and the chip leader has 20k. They all 3 go all in ahead of you, and you look down at AA.
In a cash game, this is an obvious push. But AA against 3 hands that show decent strength is probably only about a 55% favorite to win the hand. If you fold, there are several good results you can look forward to. The big stack wins, knocking both the two smaller stacks out, putting you to #2 and a huge jump in payout. The 12k stack winning bumps you to #3 at worst, and the 20k stack is now short stack with 8k. Finally, the worst result is the 11k player winning, but even then, the 12k stack is down to 2k and the large stack is at 9k. Here again, you've moved to #2 in chip position with a very very short stacked player in 4th.
So do you fold the AA? If you call and win, you'll have a massive chip lead of 40k, with two tiny stacks (1k and 2k), and the previous tall stack will be cut in half (10k). If you call and lose your virtual coin flip you're out with 4th place money.
What to do, what to do. My opinion is, you'd need to check out the difference between 2nd and 1st place money. If it was a huge skew towards the person who wins it all, then calling with AA is obviously the best decision. On the other hand, if #1, #2 and #3 all have pretty even payouts, with 4th getting little, then folding might be the best choice.
Really a tough question, and I suppose depends more on personality.
Check out the full Tactics vs. EV in Tournament Endgames.
In the example, you have 4 left in a large tournament field where #3 pays significantly better than the #4 finisher. Your are short stack with 10k. The two ahead of you have 11k and 12k respectively and the chip leader has 20k. They all 3 go all in ahead of you, and you look down at AA.
In a cash game, this is an obvious push. But AA against 3 hands that show decent strength is probably only about a 55% favorite to win the hand. If you fold, there are several good results you can look forward to. The big stack wins, knocking both the two smaller stacks out, putting you to #2 and a huge jump in payout. The 12k stack winning bumps you to #3 at worst, and the 20k stack is now short stack with 8k. Finally, the worst result is the 11k player winning, but even then, the 12k stack is down to 2k and the large stack is at 9k. Here again, you've moved to #2 in chip position with a very very short stacked player in 4th.
So do you fold the AA? If you call and win, you'll have a massive chip lead of 40k, with two tiny stacks (1k and 2k), and the previous tall stack will be cut in half (10k). If you call and lose your virtual coin flip you're out with 4th place money.
What to do, what to do. My opinion is, you'd need to check out the difference between 2nd and 1st place money. If it was a huge skew towards the person who wins it all, then calling with AA is obviously the best decision. On the other hand, if #1, #2 and #3 all have pretty even payouts, with 4th getting little, then folding might be the best choice.
Really a tough question, and I suppose depends more on personality.
Check out the full Tactics vs. EV in Tournament Endgames.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Lagging my way to WCOOP #15
I earned a $320 seat in the WCOOP #15 at Poker Stars. It's the 7 card stud event with $100,000 guaranteed. By way of explanation, WCOOP = World Championship of Online Poker. It's put on by Poker Stars and is considered to be "the" online world series of poker, basically. The only other major online tournament event is Full Tilt's FTOPS.
I won my way in through a $48 satellite. About 10 minutes in, I lost my cable connection and had to play the rest of the way on a dial up connection. Laggy as everything and I'm sure the other players were none too happy! My nick is coachkf at Poker Stars, and is currently preregistered in WCOOP #15. Woohoo!
It was easier to qualify than I thought. I've never attempted to qualify for any of these events. Heck, I've only played a handful of 7 card stud tourneys for that matter. I stick to cash games generally.
I played two $27.50 turbo satellites and just missed a seat on each, but landing high enough to get my buyin back on both. I struck out in a $9 turbo stage one satellite to the $48 satellite. I decided to go ahead and cough up the $48, and definitely glad that I did. Only 40 players entered, and 5 seats were awarded. When #6 busted out, I was #3 in chips, I think.
So total spent to earn the seat came to $57. Not bad for a $320 seat. This WCOOP #15 is shaping up to be a lengthy affair. The starting stacks will be doubled to 3000, and antes/limits increase every 30 minutes. In the satellite we started with 1500 and increased every 15 minutes. The turbos were a sick 1500 starting stack and increases every 5 minutes!
Finally, the hand that really put me into this event was really a bit lucky. I was dealt TTT, and it was folded to me with 2 players behind me so I just called. Player to my left completed with a king doorcard, and again, I just smooth called. Heads up going to 4th street. He catches another king to show a pair, and possible KKK. I groaned, but this guy was super aggressive and I had fully expected the completed bet, even if he had deuce, seven, king rainbow to start. At any rate, I raised him on 4th to see his reaction and he just calls. Not really much info there. Could be slow playing trips or might have just KK and garbage.
5th street I catch another ten for quads. We cap 5th, 6th and 7th. His trip kings are pretty obvious now. Long and short is, I got all my chips in, and when the hand was over he had ~20 left and was out the next hand. I had ~3000 and the chip lead. I stayed in the top 5 from that point forward with more good cards and good breaks.
Here's hoping WCOOP #15 event will be as kind!
I won my way in through a $48 satellite. About 10 minutes in, I lost my cable connection and had to play the rest of the way on a dial up connection. Laggy as everything and I'm sure the other players were none too happy! My nick is coachkf at Poker Stars, and is currently preregistered in WCOOP #15. Woohoo!
It was easier to qualify than I thought. I've never attempted to qualify for any of these events. Heck, I've only played a handful of 7 card stud tourneys for that matter. I stick to cash games generally.
I played two $27.50 turbo satellites and just missed a seat on each, but landing high enough to get my buyin back on both. I struck out in a $9 turbo stage one satellite to the $48 satellite. I decided to go ahead and cough up the $48, and definitely glad that I did. Only 40 players entered, and 5 seats were awarded. When #6 busted out, I was #3 in chips, I think.
So total spent to earn the seat came to $57. Not bad for a $320 seat. This WCOOP #15 is shaping up to be a lengthy affair. The starting stacks will be doubled to 3000, and antes/limits increase every 30 minutes. In the satellite we started with 1500 and increased every 15 minutes. The turbos were a sick 1500 starting stack and increases every 5 minutes!
Finally, the hand that really put me into this event was really a bit lucky. I was dealt TTT, and it was folded to me with 2 players behind me so I just called. Player to my left completed with a king doorcard, and again, I just smooth called. Heads up going to 4th street. He catches another king to show a pair, and possible KKK. I groaned, but this guy was super aggressive and I had fully expected the completed bet, even if he had deuce, seven, king rainbow to start. At any rate, I raised him on 4th to see his reaction and he just calls. Not really much info there. Could be slow playing trips or might have just KK and garbage.
5th street I catch another ten for quads. We cap 5th, 6th and 7th. His trip kings are pretty obvious now. Long and short is, I got all my chips in, and when the hand was over he had ~20 left and was out the next hand. I had ~3000 and the chip lead. I stayed in the top 5 from that point forward with more good cards and good breaks.
Here's hoping WCOOP #15 event will be as kind!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Quote of the Week
Maybe the month, and possibly the year. Just depends on how long it takes me to see another paragraph that just nails a great thought.
We had a new member on our poker forum start a thread about tilting, and he made this observation after discussing a session that he lost $325 in just a couple of hours, tilting it away. In his own words:
The more poker I play, the more I begin to understand that what makes a poker player able to succeed and win in the long run is not understanding odds (though it helps,) having great luck (because it always ends,) or even being able to read hands (I wish I was better at that,) but having self control and discipline.
I guess the only thing he left out that players "over focus" on is bluffing. You ask a newbie what makes a successful poker player and they'll say something like "math geek" or "iron balls. He can shove it all in with 72o and take down the pot without flinching" or "uncanny reading ability. It's easy to play when you can see through the other guys cards"....
Hogwash. Those things do tend to separate the superstars from the rest of us, but what makes an every day, grind it out, winning player is self control and discipline. If a player can't master those two qualities, he'll never win over the long haul.
All of the poker strategy and bankroll management theory in the world won't help you if you don't have the discipline to apply it at the table, and the self control to stay on even keel when things don't go your way, (or at least enough sense to know when you've lost your self control and pack it up for the night).
I guess we're lucky that most players don't really listen to "discipline" and "self control" advice. They just keep donating to Dylan's Diaper Fund. :)
We had a new member on our poker forum start a thread about tilting, and he made this observation after discussing a session that he lost $325 in just a couple of hours, tilting it away. In his own words:
The more poker I play, the more I begin to understand that what makes a poker player able to succeed and win in the long run is not understanding odds (though it helps,) having great luck (because it always ends,) or even being able to read hands (I wish I was better at that,) but having self control and discipline.
I guess the only thing he left out that players "over focus" on is bluffing. You ask a newbie what makes a successful poker player and they'll say something like "math geek" or "iron balls. He can shove it all in with 72o and take down the pot without flinching" or "uncanny reading ability. It's easy to play when you can see through the other guys cards"....
Hogwash. Those things do tend to separate the superstars from the rest of us, but what makes an every day, grind it out, winning player is self control and discipline. If a player can't master those two qualities, he'll never win over the long haul.
All of the poker strategy and bankroll management theory in the world won't help you if you don't have the discipline to apply it at the table, and the self control to stay on even keel when things don't go your way, (or at least enough sense to know when you've lost your self control and pack it up for the night).
I guess we're lucky that most players don't really listen to "discipline" and "self control" advice. They just keep donating to Dylan's Diaper Fund. :)
Monday, September 10, 2007
Learn Texas Holdem
We recently had some articles written for us on our poker strategy and mastering holdem domains. These articles were written by Learn Texas Holdem. Good quality stuff.
The first article is titled False Tells. Many players confuse the "acting" tell as a false tell, and this article not only straightens out the misconception, but throws in some good examples of what a false tell actually is.
They wrote another article for us labeled Handling Large Sit n Go's. The multi table SNG's have become more and more popular, especially at sites like Poker Stars. This article just provides a few tips and thoughts to keep in mind next time you sit down to one. :)
We'll be having LTH write another article or two for us in the future, and review them here.
When it comes to growing as a poker player, I believe we're only limited by ourselves. Keep studying, reading and playing and just about anyone of decent intelligence can make a nice income from online poker.
The first article is titled False Tells. Many players confuse the "acting" tell as a false tell, and this article not only straightens out the misconception, but throws in some good examples of what a false tell actually is.
They wrote another article for us labeled Handling Large Sit n Go's. The multi table SNG's have become more and more popular, especially at sites like Poker Stars. This article just provides a few tips and thoughts to keep in mind next time you sit down to one. :)
We'll be having LTH write another article or two for us in the future, and review them here.
When it comes to growing as a poker player, I believe we're only limited by ourselves. Keep studying, reading and playing and just about anyone of decent intelligence can make a nice income from online poker.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
PSORG Heads Up Competition
We had a blast today, playing the PSORG Heads Up event. Out of the 10 or 12 active folks in mIRC chat, 8 had the time to devote to it, so we had 3 rounds of single elimination matches before crowning a champ. During the event, I had a moment to self reflect, and a few thoughts popped into my head.
First, I lack a killer instinct when playing with friends. It gets worse. Not only do I lack a killer instict, I'd almost rather them win. I was paired up with Drogo71 for round 1, and even though we'd agreed to do best 2 out of 3, when he won the first one I told him congrats, no need for a 2nd (he went on to win the whole event). Finally, I found that when involved in social poker events, I actually have more fun watching the games from the rail and taking part in the friendly banter that goes on. Good thing these are low buy in. I suspect I'm a total fish in "social events".
I've known about this weakness for some time, and it's one of the main reasons I don't engage in chat much, unless someone speaks to me first at the standard ring game table. Once I "make friends", I find it harder to play aggressively towards that player. I should make a distinction between "respect" and "friends". There are players like CChristyCC and ElToasto at Absolute who I respect and we do chat a bit, but I still play aggressively when we're in a hand together. It's totally different with members of our forum though, especially when playing Hold'em, which is not exactly a game I stay sharp on anyway.
Having players cuss at me is much better for my bankroll. Thankfully this happens pretty frequently, especially heads up!
Enough publishing my weaknesses. Time to get back to taking the hater's chips.
First, I lack a killer instinct when playing with friends. It gets worse. Not only do I lack a killer instict, I'd almost rather them win. I was paired up with Drogo71 for round 1, and even though we'd agreed to do best 2 out of 3, when he won the first one I told him congrats, no need for a 2nd (he went on to win the whole event). Finally, I found that when involved in social poker events, I actually have more fun watching the games from the rail and taking part in the friendly banter that goes on. Good thing these are low buy in. I suspect I'm a total fish in "social events".
I've known about this weakness for some time, and it's one of the main reasons I don't engage in chat much, unless someone speaks to me first at the standard ring game table. Once I "make friends", I find it harder to play aggressively towards that player. I should make a distinction between "respect" and "friends". There are players like CChristyCC and ElToasto at Absolute who I respect and we do chat a bit, but I still play aggressively when we're in a hand together. It's totally different with members of our forum though, especially when playing Hold'em, which is not exactly a game I stay sharp on anyway.
Having players cuss at me is much better for my bankroll. Thankfully this happens pretty frequently, especially heads up!
Enough publishing my weaknesses. Time to get back to taking the hater's chips.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Out in the sticks...
We're back from the aforementioned vacation. The picture from the deck of the cabin (picture is in the previous post below) is legit. That's the cabin we stayed at. I should've known to get that view you'll need a 4wd.
We videotaped the drive from the main road to the cabin, just because we were so amazed. We rarely even had a cell phone signal. We had running water and electricity though, and my parents had their doubts by the time we finally pulled up next to the cabin. To make a long story short, the last mile or so was a steep grade gravel/dirt road, and the two times we actually met someone coming the other way, we had to get out and decide which of us was to back up, since there were only a few spots that two vehicles could pass.
We had a blast though. A racoon got in our trash outside every night, and we finally caught him in the act on the last night, got pictures and everything. The little sucker was pretty tame. I suspect we're not the only inhabitants to have tossed him turkey sandwiches. :)
Regarding poker: I never hit that 2k mark, so after pulling out $1000 from the bankroll to help with the trip, I'm at ~840. Time to start working it back up for the next vacation I suppose.
We videotaped the drive from the main road to the cabin, just because we were so amazed. We rarely even had a cell phone signal. We had running water and electricity though, and my parents had their doubts by the time we finally pulled up next to the cabin. To make a long story short, the last mile or so was a steep grade gravel/dirt road, and the two times we actually met someone coming the other way, we had to get out and decide which of us was to back up, since there were only a few spots that two vehicles could pass.
We had a blast though. A racoon got in our trash outside every night, and we finally caught him in the act on the last night, got pictures and everything. The little sucker was pretty tame. I suspect we're not the only inhabitants to have tossed him turkey sandwiches. :)
Regarding poker: I never hit that 2k mark, so after pulling out $1000 from the bankroll to help with the trip, I'm at ~840. Time to start working it back up for the next vacation I suppose.
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