I added ratings for every film I saw in 2013 and 2014. You can check those out here and here. Also, if you missed my poker goals for 2015, you can read that post here.
Archive for the ‘poker’ Category
2014 Poker Year In Review & 2015 Goals
January 1, 2015I never finished my post for my 2014 goals, but I did save a draft of it and these were the goals I had at the time:
Increase bankroll to 5 figures
Play @ least 250 hours of 8/16 or higher
Play a WSOP event
Increase 4/8 win rate to .75 BB/HR
Sadly, I managed to accomplish only one of those goals — to play in a WSOP event. After having more than 24 consecutive winnings months in a row in 2011-2012, for the second year in a row I struggled from spring to winter. Although I didn’t suffer through the brutal downswing I did last year, I pretty much broke even for an 8 month stretch after getting off to a very hot start through April. Also, because of this static stretch and what felt like a really slow year at my day job, I once again struggled to pad my bankroll. In fact, I won more money gambling this year than currently sits in my playable bankroll. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished the past four years as a lucrative gambler, but I’d be lying if I said I was satisfied with the end result. I thought committing to a day job would ensure that all my gambling profit went to building a bankroll, but that has mostly proven to be untrue — my current bankroll sits at less than 20% of my total profit since 2011 started. Most months, I find myself using bankroll to pay bills or some other unexpected expenditure. It’s been very hard for me to hang on to the money I’ve won gambling and it hasn’t been because I’ve lost it playing poker.
Despite another winning year, one that included my biggest lifetime cash — a fourth place finish in the Main Event of a series at Little Creek this past April — 2014 was mostly a disappointment as far as my poker career is concerned. It felt like a lot of running in place and, even though my upswings were frequently erased by a bad session or two in bigger games, I mostly have myself to blame. For one, I played a lot less than I did the previous two years. In the first half of 2012, I was averaging over 225 hours a month of poker. Last year, I was probably averaging well over 100 hours a month. The past five months I’ve averaged a mere 52.6 hours a month. That’s a pitiful output; one that I can’t fully blame on the increased responsibilities in my life. There were other contributing factors: laziness, lack of motivation, diabetes, even fear. Another reason I’ve made such little progress is that I played the vast majority of my hours at the $4/$8 level, a game I likely grew out of two years ago. I set a goal of 250 hours of $8/$16 or higher and I probably logged less than half of that total. I enjoy supporting my day job game and hooking up my co-workers, but sometimes I need to remind myself that I play poker for money and dedicating myself to such a small game when I have so little free time to play poker these days is downright silly and detrimental to my future, especially since I’ve been bankrolled to play nearly five times as big for some time now.
While I did manage to achieve the goal of playing in a WSOP event this year, my experience at the 2014 World Series Of Poker was incredibly disheartening. For starters, I went 0-5 in my efforts, which included the $500 casino employees event, the $1500 Millionairemaker, and three entries into the $230 daily deep stack. I busted out 10 or 11 spots shy of cashing in the first event, despite having an above average stack at the time. It was quite the shock. I could have easily folded my way to a cash in my first ever WSOP event, but instead I got involved in a 3-bet pot with AK vs A8 and then check-raised all in on the A83 flop. I felt sick to my stomach after losing that hand, but it was only going to get worse from there.
This was my experience in the $1500 Millionairemaker tournament — easily the biggest buy in I’d ever played in: I barely get to my table as the first hand is being dealt. My big blind is already out there and I’m not even comfortable in my chair when the action is on me and I look down at KK. I look up and survey what’s happened so far: an early position player has made it 75 to go and one player has called, with blinds of 25/25 and starting stacks of 4500. I take a closer look at the opening raiser and it dawns on me that it is David Williams, a well known pro that finished runner-up to Greg Raymer in the 2004 WSOP Main Event. I’ve read his section in Daniel Negreanu’s Power Poker so I’m familiar with how absurdly loose and aggressive he can play. Honestly, I don’t want to play a big pot out of position against an elite LAG when I haven’t even had time to pull my card protector out of my pocket yet, so… I make it 475 to go, an absurdly big raise, in an effort to end the hand immediately. Instead, they both call. I manage to get one of the few flops I’m comfortable playing in this spot: the AK9 with two spades. I lead out for a pot-sized bet of 1500 and only David Williams calls me. The turn is a Q that is not a spade. There is 4500 in the pot already so the only bet that makes sense is all-in. I shove and David basically snap-calls me and I feel pretty confident that he’s about to show me the JT of spades. I can barely digest my good fortune when he shows the K5 of spades before the dealer burns and turns the 3 of spades on the river, giving David a spade flush and eliminating me. On the first hand. Of the biggest tournament of my life. I was in shock. I was fully backed for this event and I spent the long walk out of the convention center contemplating if I could even go tell my backer that I was out of an event he put up $1500 for within the first five minutes. I felt nauseous; even though I played the hand perfectly, I was concerned I was about to get sent back on the next flight to Seattle. Instead, I told him the bad news, which he handled well, and then I proceeded to lay in the fetal position for roughly the next 24 hours. My first two WSOP events had been about as agonizing as possible. I got coolered in the live NL games a couple times, broke roughly even in some $20/$40 Omaha, had a few more brutal bust outs in the daily deep stack event, and I left Las Vegas with the Rio as my worst casino lifetime by a long shot. Needless to say, I have something to prove at the WSOP. Still, despite the fact that my results were terrible, it was a pretty awesome experience and I can’t wait to go back in 2015.
The World Series was just the start of my tournament misfortune, however. I have not cashed in a tournament of $150 or more since that score all the way back in April and I’ve played around 20 events, including a $1000 one, a $775 one, and a few over $500. It’s been a brutal stretch and honestly, I haven’t even really made it interesting. I’ve been experimenting with incorporating a more loose-aggressive style into my tournament game and it either doesn’t suit me (unlikely) or I’m misusing it (very likely). Of course, I’ve also experienced a tremendous amount of bad luck. When you never have the best hand when a crucial pot develops, it’s difficult to produce good results in tournaments.
For 2015, I’ve decided to focus on goals that are within my control instead of the things that aren’t (win rate). I felt like I’ve made huge strides improving my mental game the past couple years, but every once in a while I get so frustrated it’s embarrassing. I’m not the type to say anything or cause a scene, but I am the type where you can occasionally see the steam coming out of my ears. It’s ridiculous. Winning or losing should really have no affect on me at this point. I have years of data that prove I beat the game in the long run and whether I do awesome or poorly in a given session, week, or month should really have no bearing on my emotional state.
2015 Goals:
-continuing reading about mental game, develop mental game profiles, and improve my c-game
-focus on how well I played, how well I controlled tilt, and how well I paid attention to game flow instead of how well I ran
-continuing taking notes throughout all my sessions and combing through them later
-watch opponents closely in tournaments and develop exploitative styles for each of them instead of playing laggy for laggy’s sake
-take my time in critical pots and really think things through before acting
-focus my learning — don’t study multiple variants at the same time or games I’m not playing frequently
-spend less than 20% of my total hours in 4/8 games
-log 750 live hours
-log 100 hours of spread limit
-play 2-3 events at 2015 WSOP
-play a tournament series in a city I’ve never been to before
-treat poker like a job with set hours and not like a hobby
And some less controllable goals:
-set a new career high tournament score
-double my current bankroll size
-maintain a 1 BB/HR win rate at 8/16
-start playing 20/40 regularly by end of year
And some blog goals:
-1 new post a week, for starters
-ultimately aiming for 1 new post a day
-write about poker and current progress
-write about movies and at least keep grades for everything I see
-write about baseball
-share my embarrassing rap career
I Suck At Tournament Poker
March 8, 2013God, it sure feels like I do. I mean, my history in online tournaments pre-Black Friday and even playing live up through all of 2011 suggests otherwise, but my success (or lack thereof) since the start of 2012–particularly in big ($150+) events–has been…unsettling. I managed to post a profit in tournaments last year and went deep in multiple major events, but the overall result is lackluster and disappointing. So far in 2013, I’ve fizzled out of a couple events and have been cold decked out of a few others. All these experiences have lead me to the following conclusions:
a) I handle the short term luck factor in tournaments very poorly. This is a concept that creeps into my limit hold em cash games very seldom. Generally, when it comes to variance in cash games, I realize that over time, all the money I lose when I get unlucky eventually comes back, with interest, and often within the same session. I also grasp the fact that these frequent beats are a result of poor play and that errors from opponents is how I make money playing poker. Therefore, I never berate players and rarely tilt, spending as much time playing my A-game as possible. I have a much harder time applying these same concepts to tournament play. Perhaps it’s the absolute nature of tournament poker: once your chips are gone, you’re out. If you get unlucky or coolered in a massive pot, you are usually out or crippled, and the amount of chips you have directly correlates with how you can play. And when you bust out, you might have to wait a month to play in another good event. All of this tends to make me highly upset during a tournament and almost always afterwards. I mean, I don’t want to be bothered by anyone and my day of poker is usually mentally over with. For the third time in less than two months, I immediately left the casino instead of waiting for the dinner break to use my free meal voucher and socialize with the other players. I lose, I’m gone. No goodbyes. Rarely a “nice hand.” It’s not a good look.
b) I have no idea what style suits me best. Without a doubt, I’ve experienced my most success using a tight-aggressive (TAG) and frequently nitty style. The problem is, while this style gets me to the money most often, it also leaves me short stacked in the late stages of tournaments and relies far too heavily on what cards I’m being dealt (luck) and has much less to do with playing position correctly, exploiting my opponents’ tendencies, staying unpredictable, and playing poker after the flop (skill). However, my ventures into playing a loose-aggressive (LAG) style have led me to continual destruction (often self-inflicted). I have little doubt that a controlled LAG style is the best way to play tournaments, as it makes you highly unpredictable and sets you up to make the final table with a bundle of chips and the ability to make moves your short stacked opponents can’t afford to. Note that I said “controlled,” which seems to be where I go wrong. My use of the LAG style is frequently misguided and random, as I’ll show when I start talking about the $180 tournament I played at Little Creek on Friday night. Ultimately, the biggest problem here is that the TAG style is my comfort zone. It’s not how I want to play, but it’s the style I feel most comfortable using and my history of experimenting with the LAG style has been… questionable.
So last night, I’m playing in the $180 event of the Spring Classic at Little Creek Casino and within the first two levels I run JJ and TT into overpairs on favorable boards and lose a bunch of chips, but stay alive. Then I flop a full house with QQ in a raised pot and make 0 chips after the flop and then I flop another boat with 22 in a 3-way raised pot and manage a measly +700 in chips. I raise with 99 over one limper and both blinds also call. We see a flop of TT6 and only the big blind calls my bet of 500. At this point in the hand, I feel like I should tell another story.
Flashback to the Fall Classic $230 Main Event at Little Creek last year. I get into a massive leveling war with the big blind in the hand I’m talking about in the last paragraph. A few people limp into the pot for 200 or 300, something in that range, and I make it at least 1000 on the button (OTB) with a deep stack holding the monstrous T8o. The big blind repops me to, say, 2700 and everyone in between folds. My first instinct is to fold, well, because I just got caught with my pants down and T8o isn’t exactly AK… but then I start thinking… I already have this guy sized up as someone that pays attention and is capable of making plays and realize that he probably realizes that I’m raising light. So if I know that he knows this, how can I possibly let him get away with it. For the first time that I can remember, I pull off the preflop 4-bet bluff and make it 6500 to go. For some reason on this day, I have chosen to sit with my chair backwards so that my arms can rest on top of the chair and my face is basically buried in my arms. I am nervous, oh boy, am I nervous, but this is the same posture I’ve taken the entire tournament. Regardless, after sizing me up for quite some time, this guy pulls the trigger and ships it all in. I spend very little time posing for the cameras before tossing my hand into the muck and he turbo fastrolls 96o. Good play, sir. And the lesson learned here is that if I trust my read, I can’t let him have the last move (the 5-bet shove) because even if he “knows” I’m bluffing, he can’t call me, much like I couldn’t call him even though I was sure he was full of it.
Flashfoward to the 99 on the TT6 flop. After he calls my flop bet, I’ve already determined that a) I’m showing down and b) I’m going to keep the pot small. So I check back on the turn and call an 1100 bet on the river and he shows me JT. Nice.
I definitely have a fishy image at this point because I’ve had lots of big hands and I’ve shown NONE of them so far, so when it folds to me in the small blind and I raise to 450 with AQ the big blind makes it 1475 quickly and with a tone in his voice that says: “find someone else to pick on.” So… I shove it on his ass and he folds.
Then, I proceed to play AK so poorly that I’m not going to write about it out of fear that no one will ever back me again. I mean, seriously… Worst. Line. Ever.
So now I’ve been involved in a number of pots, have lost almost 67% of my stack, and I’ve tabled zero hands. My terrible image is still intact. Blinds are 50/100, one player limps, the button makes it 500, the worst player at the table in the small blind flats, and I look down at QQ. I’m sitting on 6200, which creates for a rather awkward situation. My inclination is to just shove it here, but that’s a huge re-raise and I want at least some action on my hand. I opt to 3-bet it to 2000, an amount that virtually commits me to the pot, and my plan is that, if called, I’m going to shove it all-in on any flop unless something dictates that I shouldn’t. This is a gambling line, but I want chips. I’ll take the risk. Everyone folds except for the kid in the small blind which is the perfect result. He checks to me on the KJx flop and I shove my remaining 42 big blinds into the pot and he calls pretty quickly with AT for… a gut shot. I’m holding two blockers and he somehow misses his 5-outer and I have a playable stack again.
Naturally, my playable stack lasts one orbit before this happens: Blinds are 100/200, the kid from last hand limps, I limp in with 99, one other player and the button limp in, the small blind completes, and the big blind raises to… 400! Yes, a min-raise. I’d love to hear the thought process on that one. The kid calls, and I briefly consider 3-betting because given the action so far, I almost certainly have the best hand and should be able to take it down right here. Alas, my confidence is shot and I decide to just call, as does everyone else. 6-way action for 2400 to see a flop of T98 with two diamonds. Not the best flop for a set, but the pot is big enough that I’m never folding here with my stack size. The big blind leads out for 700, lighting those chips on fire and kissing them goodbye because, well, because he just announced that he has absolutely nothing with such a weak beat on a super dangerous board. The bad player to my right makes it 1400. Perfect. I practically min-raise it to 3000, prepared to get it all in if anyone comes over the top of me, but everyone folds around to the kid, who only has 3100 total, which he proceeds to shove into the pot as he fastrolls TT for top set. FML. I actually have a chance to fold here for 100 more, but I’m getting 85 to 1 and it’s probably correct to draw to my 1-outer. I miss it and am back to short stacking it.
Final hand. Folds around to the button who has yet to not raise in this situation. He makes it 700 to go, the loose kid to my right calls, and I look down at A8. A few things to consider here that I didn’t take the time to think over at the table. The button has open-raised in this situation four times now. Once, I 3-bet with QQ and he got out of the way pretty quickly. Another time, I flat called with A2o and he checked the flop and turn when medium cards hit the board and folded when I bluffed the river after a 4-card straight showed up. Giving this information, calling preflop makes a lot more sense as this opponent took a pretty passive line with a hand he missed with and folded without resistance when I bluffed the river and he folded when I 3-bet the queens… so when I decide to raise it up to 2700, I’m only going to get action when he can… go all-in. Which he does. I deliberate for quite a while and study him. I’m not getting much information there, so I start looking at my pot odds and realize, with horror, that I’ve priced myself in with A8o for my tournament life. Awful planning on my part. Just terrible. I shake my head and put my chips in and he shows me QQ and the dealer wastes little time killing me off as he brings out the Queen high flop. GG.
Honestly, I’m so discouraged with my tournament play that I went to the cashier and had to go through the arduous and embarrassing process of refunding my tournament buy-in for the main event because well, I don’t want to waste my time and money (or my backers’ money) when I’m not feeling good about my game. I’ve had some terrible luck in the Oregon tournaments, but my play in the local ones has been pretty awful. I just need a break to collect my thoughts and think about what I need to fix.
MacRankings January 28th 2013
January 28, 2013Top 25:
1. Michigan (19-1) [2]
2. Kansas (18-1) [3]
3. Duke (17-2) [1]
4. Indiana (18-2) [8]
5. Syracuse (18-2) [5]
6. Arizona (17-2) [4]
7. Florida (16-2) [9]
8. Gonzaga (19-2) [11]
9. New Mexico (17-3) [12]
10. Michigan State (17-4) [14]
11. Butler (17-3) [7]
12. Miami (15-3) [15]
13. Oregon (18-2) [16]
14. Louisville (16-4) [6]
15. Wichita State (19-2) [20]
16. Ohio State (15-4) [23]
17. Cincinnati (16-4) [17]
18. Minnesota (15-5) [10]
19. Kansas State (15-4) [13]
20. Ole Miss (17-2) [25]
21. UCLA (16-5) [UR]
22. UNLV (16-4)
23. Missouri (15-4) [24]
24. Creighton (18-3) [18]
25. North Carolina State (16-4) [19]
Dropped Out:
23. VCU (16-5) [21]
25. Notre Dame (16-4) [22]
Rising:
Colorado State (16-4)
Georgetown (14-4)
Memphis (16-3)
San Diego State (16-4)
Wisconsin (14-6)
Chilling:
Connecticut (13-5)
Marquette (14-4)
Pittsburgh (17-4)
Falling:
Illinois (15-6)
Maryland (15-5)
North Carolina (13-6)
Oklahoma (13-5)
Oklahoma State (13-5)
MacRankings: January 21st
January 21, 2013Top 25:
1. Duke (16-1) [1]
2. Michigan (17-1) [2]
3. Kansas (16-1) [5]
4. Arizona (16-1) [6]
5. Syracuse (17-1) [7]
6. Louisville (16-2) [3]
7. Butler (16-2) [12]
8. Indiana (16-2) [4]
9. Florida (14-2) [10]
10. Minnesota (15-3) [9]
11. Gonzaga (17-2) [8]
12. New Mexico (16-2) [14]
13. Kansas State (15-2) [16]
14. Michigan State (16-3) [22]
15. Miami (13-3) [17]
16. Oregon (16-2) [UR]
17. Cincinnati (16-3) [24]
18. Creighton (17-2) [11]
19. North Carolina State (15-3) [13]
20. Wichita State (17-2) [UR]
21. VCU (16-3)
22. Notre Dame (15-3) [19]
23. Ohio State (13-4) [21]
24. Missouri (13-4) [18]
25. Ole Miss (15-2) [UR]
Dropped Out:
15. San Diego State (14-4) [15]
20. Connecticut (12-5) [20]
23. Illinois (14-5) [23]
25. UNLV (15-4) [25]
Bubble:
Georgetown (12-4)
Marquette (13-4)
Maryland (14-4)
North Carolina (12-5)
Oklahoma (12-4)
Oklahoma State (12-4)
Pittsburgh (15-4)
UCLA (14-4)
Wisconsin (13-5)
Wyoming (14-2)
MacRankings – College Basketball Top 25
January 14, 2013Top 25
1. Duke (15-1) [1]
2. Michigan (16-1) [2]
3. Louisville (15-1) [3]
4. Indiana (15-1) [5]
5. Kansas (14-1) [6]
6. Arizona (15-1) [4]
Comments: Nothing much changes at the top. I’d be pretty surprised and highly amused if Duke isn’t #1 when I wake up tomorrow. The remaining undefeated teams (Duke, Michigan, and Arizona) all lost, so some non-thinking voters might automatically move Louisville into the #1 spot, but that’s absurd. Considering my top 6 all have only one loss, you still have to take a look at which team has been best up to this point and Duke is still #1. The Blue Devils are #1 in RPI, #2 in strength of schedule (SoS), and boast three wins over teams with a top 5 ranking. Not only does Duke boast the better resume, but they already beat Louisville in a non-conference match up. Michigan and Louisville is a bit closer, but I’m giving the slight edge to Michigan because they’ve beat two teams currently in my top 16 (NC State and Kansas State). Finally, Arizona drops to #6 with the loss to Oregon this week.
7. Syracuse (16-1) [7]
8. Gonzaga (16-1) [9]
9. Minnesota (15-2) [8]
10. Florida (12-2) [10]
11. Creighton (16-1) [12]
12. Butler (14-2) [13]
Comments: No drastic changes here. Syracuse hasn’t really been challenged; they’ve only played two games against top 50 teams. Minnesota drops a tad after losing a close game to Indiana, but the Golden Gophers still have a top 10 resume and actually have been more impressive than Syracuse and Gonzaga. It’ll be interesting to see how high Creighton climbs in the national rankings as they could easily go undefeated in the Missouri Valley Conference.
13. North Carolina State (14-2) [15]
14. New Mexico (15-2) [16]
15. San Diego State (14-2) [17]
Comments: NC State has made a rapid climb back up my rankings. It’s easy to forget they were ranked #6 in the preseason, so pulling off the upset against Duke yesterday really isn’t all that shocking. New Mexico is still underrated nationally–they were #25 in the AP Poll and unranked in the ESPN poll respectively–but the Lobos are top 15 in both RPI and SoS and their “bad” loss was against South Dakota State (#81 in RPI). More importantly, New Mexico is 3-0 against ranked teams this year.
16. Kansas State (13-2) [22]
17. Miami (12-3) [UR]
18. Missouri (12-3) [11]
19. Notre Dame (14-2) [21]
Comments: Kansas State makes a big jump after most of my top 25 teams lost last week. KSU has played a relatively weak schedule so far (only 5 games against top 100 teams) but have performed admirably in big games so far. Miami makes a huge jump this week. The Hurricanes boast a #5 RPI ranking and now rank #1 in SoS and have 7 wins over top 100 teams, including a win this past week at North Carolina. It took me a while to appreciate what Miami has accomplished this year because of losses to Florida Gulf Coast and Indiana State, but both of those teams actually rank in the RPI top 100. Missouri drops 7 spots after a surprising loss to Ole Miss. I still think Notre Dame is the weakest team currently in my top 25, but 5 of their next 6 games are against some of the weaker teams in the Big East, so they will likely stick around a bit longer.
20. Connecticut (12-3) [UR]
21. Ohio State (13-3) [UR]
22. Michigan State (14-3) [UR]
Comments: Welcome back! All three of these teams have been in my rankings at one time this year and deserve to be back. I’ve been a big Ohio State hater so far and they had done very little to prove me wrong until they beat Michigan today, a team I was ready to give my #1 ranking come Monday.
23. Illinois (14-4) [14]
24. Cincinnati (14-3) [19]
25. UNLV (14-3) [18]
Comments: Illinois is the only four loss team in my top 25 and they’ve been quite confusing. After posting wins over Butler, Gonzaga, and beating Ohio State by 20 and looking like a legitimate top 10 team, Illinois has scuffled to a 1-3 start in the Big Ten and had back-to-back 20 point losses this past week. That’s some pretty inconsistent information. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt for now because of three very high quality wins. UNLV is hanging on by the skin of their teeth and they won’t be nationally ranked tomorrow, but this team has done well enough without Mike Moser that I think they will be a top 20 team by the end of the year.
Dropped Out:
20. Wichita State (15-2) [20]
23. Georgetown (11-3) [23]
24. Oklahoma State (11-4) [24]
25. Wyoming (13-1) [25]
Bubble Rising:
Marquette (12-3)
Oklahoma (11-3)
Ole Miss (13-2)
Oregon (14-2)
UCLA (13-3)
VCU (14-3)
Maintaining:
North Carolina (11-4)
Pittsburgh (13-4)
Temple (11-4)
Bubble Bursting:
Colorado (11-5)
Kentucky (10-5)
Poker Players: Help Me Play These Hands
September 16, 2012This weekend I played some big poker events and had a number of hands that gave me headaches and made me wonder what the right play was. I’m curious how my peers think I should have handled each situation. Hopefully I get some good feedback on these hands and if I don’t get much, I’m going to start tagging you fools on Facebook. When I get a number of responses, I’ll update this page with the result of the hand, my analysis, and what I think is ultimately the right play. If you don’t understand the poker lingo or abbreviations, then you probably won’t be too interested in this post anyway.
Some Background: $300 buy-in tournament. My table draw is terrible. I have two tough players to my direct left and one of them has already amassed a monstrous chip lead at the table. I pegged two players I wanted to get my chips from but they both busted out before I won a single hand. I have one super LAG at the table that I haven’t decided if he’s a good player or not and everyone else is weak tight. I’ve had minimal playable hands and the only hand I’ve shown is QQ, which I made almost nothing with due to board texture. I probably have a weak tight image at this point.
Hand #1: Last hand before break. Blinds are 100-200 and I have 8375 (~42 BB, M of ~28) and open to 600 UTG with AK. Folds around to the very LAG player in SB. He ships for 12K+. What do I do?
Hand #2: Blinds are 300-600 with a 50 ante. I have like 12K (20 BB, M of 9) and open to 1600 with AK from MP. It folds around to SB, the good player with the monster stack, and he 3! to 6500 or so, leaving himself clearly priced in against a shove. He’s been playing a lot of hands, but this is the first time I’ve seen him 3! pre. What do I do?
Hand #3: I’ve switched tables. Blinds are 600-1200 with a 100 ante. I have just over 15K (12.5 BB, M of 5.5). UTG (the good player from the last hand described… still with a massive stack) limps in, UTG+2 (solid, straight-forward) makes it 3500 to go, old guy (playing kind of loose and weird) in MP makes it 8K to go–leaving about 1.5K behind–and I’m next to act with AK. What do I do?
Hand #4: Different tournament. $500 buy-in. I’ve been relatively active, playing good positional poker and taking down pots by attacking weakness. Of my 8 opponents at the table, I think 6 of them are definitely weak players I want to tangle with, one guy seems to be playing straight forward small ball poker, and another player looks pretty LAG and seems slightly dangerous, but I did see him make a move that made me question if he really knows what’s up or if he’s just a poser. My table draw is way better than it was in the last tournament and I feel like I’m the strongest player at the table. Level is 100-200, my stack is over 11K and two of the weak players limp in front of me. I limp in LP with KJ and we see a Q82 rainbow flop five ways. Everyone checks to me on the flop and it looks like a pretty good spot to bet since I’d expect a queen to lead out and there are only gutshot straight draws available. I expect a bet of 2/3 the pot to take it down a pretty good percentage of the time. The blinds both fold, but both the limpers call. With only weak draws possible, at least one of my opponents probably has a made hand and my decision to shut it down becomes even easier when another 8 hits the board on the turn. It checks around and I’m quite happy to see a King peel off on the river and plan to value bet if it checks to me or hope to pick off a weak bet on the river. The first player bets 750 and the next one raises to 1500. I don’t have much respect for either player and the one that’s raising has been playing a bit goofy. What do I do?
Hand #5: Level is 200-400-50, I have 13K, which is 32.5 bigs and an M of about 12. The small baller opens to 875, nearly a minimum raise and one that he has made 3 times in the last orbit. It folds to me with JJ in the big blind. What do I do?
Hand #6: Level is 200-400-50 still. My stack is down to about 8200 (20.5 bigs, M of about 8). It folds around to the small blind and he raises to 1200. Again, this is a weak player, but in similar situations in the past he has completed from the SB instead of raising. One other note, I have had a rough level and my image is not that great right now. I look down at 33 in the big blind, what do I do?
Selling Pieces For May Poker Tournaments
May 9, 2012I’m looking to sell pieces of my action for some of the bigger buy-in upcoming tournaments. This is the schedule of events I’m looking to play. I’m willing to sell up to 50% of my action in these events:
5/12, Saturday: $110 No Limit Hold Em @ Freddie’s Club Of Fife
5/13, Sunday: $215 No Limit Hold Em @ Muckleshoot
5/17-5/20: $250 No Limit Hold Em Main Event @ Tulalip
5/20, Sunday: $250 No Limit Hold Em @ All-Star Lanes
5/21, Monday: $200 H.O.R.S.E. @ Tulalip
That’s a total buy-in amount of $1025 and I’m going to be charging a mark-up of 25% to cover expenses such as food, gas, and time invested.
For example: since 10% of $1025 is $102.50, with a mark-up of 25% that 10% would actually go for $128.
So these will be my selling rates for these 5 tournaments in May:
1% = $13
5% = $65
10% = $128
15% = $192
20% = $256
Since I’m not 100% positive I’ll be playing in all these events, I would refund the investment for any tournament I don’t actually play in. Particularly, if I make it to Day 2 of the Tulalip Main Event, I would not be able to play the All-Star Lanes event as they would be on the same day.
Most of you know what I’m capable of accomplishing, but just in case anyone needs more convincing, this is my resume over the past couple years:
In 2011, I cashed in 40 of 123 live tournaments for an in the money rate of 32.5% and a total profit of $1998.75. Not bad considering my average buy-in size was roughly $25. More importantly, I finished in the top 3 in 18.7% of all tournaments and chopped first or won it outright a whopping 12.5% of the time. That’s crushing the game.
In 2011, I played in 387 online tournaments and cashed in 65 of them for an in the money rate of 16.3% and a total profit of $1321.27. Those numbers are with an average buy-in of $6.89 and an average field size of 967 players! I final tabled those massive fields 6% of the time and took 1st outright in 2% of all tournaments.
So far, in 2012, I’ve played in 128 live tournaments and cashed in 29 of them for an in the money rate of 22% and a total profit of $1651.
HOLLAR @ YOUR BOY!
Wildhorse Casino: Poker Training
April 30, 2012“It’s humbling, isn’t it?”
That’s what one of the regulars at my local casino said to me upon my return from the Spring Round Up at the Wildhorse Casino in Pendleton, Oregon. I’d be lying if I said she wasn’t right. This was my third trip to Pendleton and my third time coming home a loser. It doesn’t feel good and it proves I still have a long way to go as a poker player. I often get asked when I’m going to Vegas or if I’ll play the Main Event and my answer is: Let me conquer Pendleton first.
It’s not like I’m completely out of my league; there are plenty of pros that go for the series, but there are also plenty of fish and tons of money to be made in the live games. Plus, even pros are prone to making mistakes and everybody has leaks…you just have to find them and figure out how to exploit them.
My biggest problem is the kinds and sizes of the games they spread. When it comes to limit hold em–my area of expertise–the only limit they spread regularly is $4-$8, which is the exact same game I play every day back home. Whoopty doo, Basil! The most popular game at Wildhorse is the $2-$5 no limit hold em game. While I fancy myself a solid no limit player, my experience in live cash games is limited and $2-$5 plays way above my current bankroll. I’ve felt like I’ve held my own in this game, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m often the least experienced player at the table and have felt out of my comfort zone at times. I’m confident I can beat the game, but I can’t play it to my full ability because I’m absolutely not willing to lose a chunky portion of my bankroll playing in it. I take pride in the fact that I protect my bankroll and don’t take risky gambles with it. I am now gambling for a living–comfortably–while more accomplished players are broke, working day jobs, and advising me to take shots. “Why aren’t you playing the no limit game?” “Why are you selling your action?” Because I don’t ever want to work again in my life… that’s why.
All that said I did play 21 hours in the $2-$5 game and only lost $115 overall… But I did have the displeasure of running KK into AA for a $1200+ pot and I did turn a couple solid wins into losing sessions, which I feel reflects my inexperience as a no limit player more than a run of bad luck. The biggest thing I noticed was that I had a much tougher time the better the other players in the game were. When I was at a table of weak tight or inexperienced players, I could run over the table with little worry of anyone challenging my alpha male status or putting serious pressure on me… But I think the tougher players could sense my inexperience and continually put me in spots where I had to make difficult decisions. I wish they had a smaller no limit game that I could play in, but I suppose I just have to hope I have a bigger bankroll to work with on my next visit or maybe I will have someone back me in the cash games.
The biggest reason I had a losing trip was my first session of $4-$8 limit hold em I played. I was playing in the game with my buddy Vince and somehow we convinced the table to agree to an automatic straddle, which means that whoever was first to act after the blinds had to raise to $8 without looking at their hand… Or in the case of a kill pot, raise to $16 blind. Needless to say, it was a highly volatile game with lots of action and we were playing short-handed most of the night, which can dramatically increase short term variance. Well, I went three and a half hours in this game without winning a single pot. Unlike the no limit games where I can admit I may have been outmatched, these players sucked and were just getting continually lucky all night long while I was running incredibly bad. I saw a dude put in 4 bets on an all broadway flop with nothing but a back door flush draw and take the pot down with running sevens. It was sick. Everyone was playing so bad and I couldn’t get ANY of it! What it amounted to was the worst $4-$8 session of my life…or at least since I’ve been sober. Maybe I should have called it a night after four or five racks, but when you see everyone at the table playing so poorly, it’s tough to let them keep it. Luck has to even out in the long run, right? Well, it didn’t that night and I lost over nine racks. The good news is I made six and a half of those racks back in the $4-$8 games the rest of he trip… But damn, that loss stung and it put me in a pretty poor state of mind to start my trip.
The good news is that I cashed in two of the six tournaments I played and had a winning series for my backers. Unfortunately, I bubbled the final table in one of the events and neither of my cashes were too meaningful. I felt like I was playing good, deep stack tournament poker in four of the six tournaments I played. I played the limit hold em event on my own tab and on absolutely zero sleep. It was a bad idea. I suppose the lesson there is: just because you can’t sleep doesn’t mean you should go gamble. I’ve come to find out that one of the bigger leaks in my poker game is restlessness and playing when I’m tired or grumpy can be detrimental to my win rate. While I’m able to overcome these mental handicaps at times (when I’m running good), there are times when I’m clearly off my A game and losing more money than I need to be (when I’m bad).
I’m looking forward to the Fall Round Up and having my first winning trip to Pendleton. Hopefully my bankroll will be in even better shape and I’ll have much more no limit cash game experience by then. Also, I’m going to open up my action to more people and sell it at premium, so there’s less pressure on myself and my few backers to perform well. At times, especially deep in tournaments, I’m hesitant to make what I feel is the right play, because doing so and being wrong might cost me my tournament. But I have a pretty good feel for this game and going with my gut is usually correct and people invest in me because they trust my abilities. Next trip, it’s time to stop trying to cash and bring home a big prize. I got you guys.
Pendleton Event #1 Write-Up
April 13, 2012Ugh, it’s 4pm and I’m already doing a write-up for the first event. You know that’s not a good sign. Can’t say I’m displeased with how I played, I just had some bad connections at the wrong times. Here’s a play-by-play of some of my more critical hands, as most of the other hands I play were open-raise and take it down, or open-raise and fold to a re-raise, or open-raise, continuation bet and take it down.
First orbit, blinds 25-50, I open to 150 with KK and next position re-raises to 450 and small blind calls. I 3-bet to 2250 (too much?) and both players muck.
Blinds are 50-100 and I open to 300 with JJ. Player to my right re-raises to 1250 and it folds back to me. I already have a read on the dude from previous hands and put him on a bigger pair. I look at both of our stacks and even though I think I’ll get his whole stack if I flop a set, I don’t think I’m getting the implied odds to try for it. Also, if I flop an overpair to the board I might convince myself to change my read and get into serious trouble, so I just muck it. He shows me two aces and says “I don’t want you to think I’m picking on you.”
Player to my right has been completely running over the table, opening almost every hand and betting recklessly after the flop. I’ve been itching to get involved with him and haven’t found a good spot. Folds to him in SB and he raises to 800 with blinds at 100-200. I call with 5h3h hoping to hit a big flop in position against him. It comes down 33T and he fires 1800. He’s been playing crazy and I’ve been eyeing him for several hands so I feel like he knows I’ve been waiting to put him in his place and with that in mind, I might as well give him what he’s expecting and raise it up to 4000. He instacalls and then instaships it when a 7 hits on the turn. Pretty easy call for me and he tables A4 high, drawing completely dead. NH sir, and thanks.
I have solid reads on my whole table and they are all playing pretty weak tight so I have been ramping up the aggression and raising with a wide range of hands Qs8s, Th9h, 7d6d, 62o, K2o, etc. and having good results… so naturally, the table breaks and I’m moved to a new one with all fresh faces. Folds to the button in my first orbit at the table and he opens to 1300 with blinds @ 200-400. I look down at AK. He has a stack of about 7000-9000, somewhere in that range. I have around 13-15k. Seems standard to make a pot-committing raise against his stack size, so I bump it to 4700, he ships, I call and he shows AA. Yay! Down to $5K.
Build my stack back up to over 8k at another new table. I open to 1500 with AdKd and blinds at 300-600 with a 75 ante. Folds to BB and he calls. Flop comes 923 with two diamonds. BB checks to me and I make a pot-committing bet of 4000. He check-raises all-in, I call and he shows Kh9h and I whiff my 12-outer and come upstairs to write this stupid fucking blog. Nap time!
The Bat Cave 