A few hands

Here are a few hands from my warm up. I think I played most of them pretty well, but I still want to know if anyone would have done anything differently, and mostly why. Be as harsh as you can.

1- Calling a bluff
2- Slowplaying
3- Inducing a bluff
4- Playing in position
5- Dodging bullets
6- Sensing weakness (backdooring into a flush)
7- SB vs BB play
8- Button vs Short Stack play
9- Dodging a trap
10- Short stack play

I guess that should be enough for now. Some are pretty standards play, while some rely strictly on pot odds, and others on the dynamic of the table. Alright. Start bashing.

Sweetest line ever

This has to be the best quote I've ever heard:
"Every second without you is like a million kicks in the crotch"
- Seymour Skinner

I am so gonna use that line someday. Can a girl really ditch you after such a great sign of devotion?

On this, I'm also announcing a new Project that I'll be starting until I can get my stuff ready for cash games.

This week-end, I'll be playing one hundred 20+2$ SnGs. I'm starting with 220$, just enough to play 10 events. If I bust in this one, I'll have to seriously consider quitting, as I either completly lost it, or I'm the unluckiest guy ever. I might upgrade to 30+3$ SnGs if all goes well after about twenty events. We'll see.

I'd expect it to take about 20 hours total, including some time to relax. If I keep my usual RoI (Return on Investment) of 30%, this means a profit of about 600$, which would be pretty good for 20 hours. I might then start another one with something like a hundred 50+5$. SnGs are pretty fun to play, and it's good practice for the final table of a bigger tournament. The most crucial part is played shorthanded, which happens to be my speciality, so I like my chances here.

I've done a little warm up today, playing about 15 events. I ended up down about 75$, but my play was surprisingly good. I'll sort the hand histories tomorrow and upload a couple, both for bragging rights and to get some feedback. It didn't work out even with these plays, due to lots of missed coinflip, but I feel good about my game overall.

Chokage: Million Mania

People are telling me that they want more chokage and less poker, and I have to admit, I'd like to have more chokage that isn't about poker too. I've set the bar pretty high with the chokage in Niagara, and I thought that it could satisfy even the savviest reader for a few weeks, but alas, I was wrong. They want more.

I'm working on it, don't worry. I'll try to have a good and humorous story in the coming days, but meanwhile, you'll have to endure another poker post. This one should be more interesting than the average though. It's about the biggest tournament I've ever played.

The Million Mania event is a tournament on a relatively small poker network (iPoker). With a 1000$+100$ buy-in and one million dollars guaranteed, this was bound to have a huge overlay. I worked my way into this tournament, trading shares of me with others, in order to reduce the variance. By the time registration ended, there were 568 players, meaning the overlay was about 400k. Not Bad.

Name: Million Mania
Network: iPoker
Site: Titan Poker
Buy-in: 1000+100$
Prizepool: One Million Dollars
Game: No Limit Texas Hold'em
Rounds: Only 15 minutes
Starting stack: 3000
Starting blinds: 10/20
Finish: 422nd/568

Early in the tournament, I played pretty well. I won the first pot by raising with 98s and bluffing at the flop. On another flop, I drew cheaply to a flush that I hit. A bit later, I made it 180 to go in middle position with a couple of nines, and the big blind raised it 280 more to 460. I thought about it a few seconds and called, figuring him for jacks, queens, maybe even kings or two high cards. The flop came A44, and he thought about it, then checked. That usually means weakness, so I fired 360 into a pot of about one thousand, making it look a suck bet with an ace. He thought for maybe three seconds and folded what was either a complete bluff or a winning hand.

I kept playing pretty aggressively, raising with mediocre hands like QJo in decent position, and working my way. The blinds went up to 100/200 at that point, and I had about 4k in chips (we started with 3k). A short stack in early position thought for a few seconds then pushed for about 6 times the big blind, and I woke up with AKo. I was most likely ahead at this point, so I elected to re-raise all-in to isolate the short stack. It didn't quite work as the small blind woke up with a pair of jacks, not a bad holding in that spot. I had him covered by about 700 chips, but he elected to call anyway. The small stack flipped a pair of tens, and the jacks held up.

I was down but not dead. A few hands later, I pushed with ATo, and someone elected to call with A3o, doubling me up. On my big blind, it was folded to the button, who min-raised to 400. The small blind re-raised all-in, and I pushed my 1500 chips, holding AKo again. The button folded, and the small blind flipped over A4o. I had him dominated (2.5:1 favorite). If I won this I'd be back in the game, with a stack of over 3000 chips.

The flop came 665, and it looked good for me. To my dismay, the turn was a 4, and I was out. I took the hit like a man, and I didn't swear or curse. I simply fetched my boxing gloves and went all-in on the punching bag for a few rounds.

Obviously, I'm pretty disappointed by my finish, but not by my play. I can only think of one small mistake I made in a hand, costing me about 300 chips. The rest of the tournament went pretty well, with lots of obvious decisions and good play on my part. Even on these last few hands, I don't think I could have played it differently. That's definitely a plus.

As I said earlier, I traded a few shares of myself with d-onion. Right when I went out, he doubled up twice to 12k, way above the average stack. Blinds are pretty high now, at 300/600, and he's down a bit to about .... damn, he's out in 196th position, when the big blind hit two pairs with T5o against his KTo.

We both played a pretty good game anyway. Selling shares of ourselves so we can play bigger events is a pretty interesting idea, and we'll surely do it again. I might not go as high as 1000$ this time, but being stacked for a few 200$ events could be great. Let me know if you're interested!

Meanwhile, I'll go for a cool and malty beverage.

Some results

I played in three more events tonight:
- 20+2 Shorthanded event on PokerRoom
- 10+1 Shorthanded 2000$ guaranteed event on Titan
- 3+.3 Pot Limit 1250$ guaranteed on Titan

I got two money finishes, which is much better than my average lately, but I know that I could have done much better in the PokerRoom event. I finished 18th on about 250 in the Pot Limit event for an amazing 13$, and I got 7th/110 in the Shorthanded event on PokerRoom for a decent 93$. I don't like the way I played the last hand though...

We were only 4 at the table, and I got KJs on the button. With blinds of 400/800 and 12k in chips, I fired 2000, trying to get the blinds. The small blind, a very loose player, and not really good, called. The big blind folded, and we saw a flop of KT2 with two hearts. The maniac checked, and I bet only 2000, hoping that he'd raise me. First mistake. I just wrote a post on playing maniacs, in which I said that you need to make a big raise when you raise against a guy like this. 3000 would have been better, mostly with my chipcount.

I planned to push on the turn, but with him calling, the turn came a heart. He checked to me, and I checked back. Second mistake. The pot already had 8800 in it, and I only had 8k left. I can't let him see a free card, as I don't have a heart, and if he has the flush, there's nothing I can do. I have to move all-in here.

Note that betting 3000 on the flop leaves me with only 7k on a 10800 pot, which makes moving in here much easier. The river came a Jack, giving me top two pairs. The maniac bet 8000, effectively putting me all-in. I thought about it for a while, and I just couldn't fold in that spot. He flipped over AQo for a straight, and I was out in a disappointing 7th place.

He did get lucky, but I could have prevented much of that luck had I played the hand correctly. There was no way that he could call an all-in on the turn, so I would have taken down the pot there. Oh well, at least I learned something!

Still trying...

I've been trying to win a big multi-table tournament for months now, to no avail. I don't play nearly as many events as I could, as each time it gets more frustrating. I make a couple good moves, then I either run into a big hand when I also have one, or I don't get any card and I get devoured by blinds.

For example, this week-end, I subbed into three events for JL514. I could clearly tell that most people in these tournaments didn't really know what they were doing, but I still couldn't beat them.

In the first event, I got absolutely no card. From 50/100 blinds to 150/300 blinds, my best hand was A3o. I had to push with many more hands than usual just to stay alive. I pushed with K4s UTG, T4o on the cutoff, A3o in middle position, then finally T7o in middle position when the big blind was sitting out, but I got called by someone with A9o and didn't suck out.

The second event was the smallest, and it was a donk-fest. People were making absolutely awful moves. I wanted to cash in on this, so I pushed for 1k chips with a couple of eights on 40/80 blinds. The big blind elected to call, even though he only had 1200 chips, with T7o. Yep, monster call right there. I was a 70% favorite, but he hit a ten and that was it for me.

In the last event, I started on a good rush, making well-timed moves at first. Then the person two to my left became a tremendous chip leader, and the person directly to my left became a lot more active. Stealing was not really an option anymore. I was more or less breaking even at that point, until the following hand happened.

With blinds of 40/80, I raised to 240 with A8o on the button. The small blind obviously called, and the big blind folded. The pot was 560 when we saw the following flop: AJ8. Wow. I flopped two pairs, and this guy was certain to pay me off. He checked to me, and I bet 240. A bet I routinely made, and one he routinely called or raised. This time he just called, and the turn was a harmless T. He checked again, and on a pot over 1000, I took my time and fired off my last 750 chips, hoping to make it look like a good steal attempt, as there was an easy straight draw and flush draw out there. Unfortunately, he insta-called with 88. He was going to get all my chips on that hand no matter how I played it, and that was the end of this last event.

This serie of events wasn't too frustrating, as at least I know I played good. I make more moves now, and I time them better, so hopefully I'll get paid out eventually. I used to play a lot more conservatively, and I would routinely make the money, but rarely the final table. Getting 1.5x or 2x buy-in back is not a bad result, but you won't win that way. Now I either bust early, bust on the bubble, or make it deep into the money. It's higher variance, but higher expectation too, with the structure of tournaments paying over 30% to the first place these days.

I'm kinda sick of finding excuses for my poor performance though, so I can't wait until I get a good rush and can finally rest assured that I don't simply suck!

Beating maniacs

This is just another of these posts that cross my mind and I feel like writing it down right away. Most of them suck, but this one seemed post-worthy.

Lots of people get really angry when an apparent donkey at their table end up busting everyone. Most of the time this donkey plays almost any two cards, is very loose and aggressive. When they see a player like this, most people feel that they are entitled to take most of his money. The truth is, most players don't know how to handle an overaggressive player.

First, bluffing him is out of the question if you play online. Chances are he's gonna re-raise or call with his draw or weak pair. Second, semi-bluffs are also worthless. The strenght of a semi-bluff comes when you have two ways to win: either because your opponents fold to your apparent strenght, or because you make your hand and take down the pot in a showdown. Against this opponent, you only have one way to win: when you hit your hand. There is a remote possibility that he is also drawing and you might win if you both miss, but he might also raise you with any two cards and prevent you from drawing.

Third, you do not want to play against a guy like this if he is sitting to your left. He is going to act after you in most hands, so you never know what to expect. You won't be able to see flops cheaply, you'll have to limp with good hands and hope that he raises you, and you'll have to hope that he raises or bluffs you when you do make a hand. Needless to say, I would simply leave a table with a player like that to my left, or I would try to change seat. If you cannot change seats, you're in for a very high variance game.

Fourth, when you play against a player like this, you cannot call with a good but vulnerable hand. If you have top pair on the flop, and he bets at you, you have to raise him right away, and make a big raise. This is not the time to take out your shovel. Since you can never know if he hit a hand or he is bluffing, you can't let him see cards cheaply. Raise him right now, or leave. Calling with a hand like this is suicide. Of course, he might keep bluffing until the end, and you'll take all his money. However, since you can't easily fold against him, he'll take a lot when he does make his hand, and if you let him control the betting, he'll end up with all your money.

If you hit top two pairs, a set, a straight or another concealed monster, it is time to slowplay. Take your time, and just call his bets. You can always get the last bet in if he stops betting. As you can see, without position, you cannot do this and it becomes much less profitable. You might want to raise on the turn if the board looks dangerous, with multiple straight draws and flush draws, but most of the time you'll have to hope that he has some kind of hand, and not a strong draw.

That is pretty much all you can do against a player like this. With position, this usually turns into a real goldmine. You might lose a buy-in or two on a bad day, but that risk is always there no matter where you play. Without position, you won't be able to slowplay this clearly, or draw against him. You'll have to check-raise bluff him sometimes, bet with weaker hands, and basically be ready to play with your whole stack every hand. The problem is, if you're not sure what you are doing, it's just like arguing with an idiot: he'll bring you down to his level, and then clobber you with experience.

Gotta love the evening

I had not played in the evening in quite a while, and Wow... people are bad at this time of the day.

At two tables there were players who would bet pot almost every street, and players who would call almost any raise preflop with almost any card. People came over the top of others with underpairs. On one occasion, it went Bet Pot, Call, Raise all-in, Call Call. Problem is, the guy who raised all-in had a pair of deuces on a 667 board. How could he even think he was ahead? The two others had JJ and 67.

I quickly won two buy-ins, getting good cards, getting paid with them, and running a few bluffs, but then my luck ran out, and I lost one buy-in back. Still not a bad two hours, but it always feels bad to end on a quick downswing.

It's still better than yesterday's performances, where I played for 60$ of tournaments and couldn't cash-in a single time. In the first event, a 20$ shorthanded No-Limit event on Titan, my speciality, I lost my first coinflip, so I didn't really get to play.

In the second event, a 5$ 1k Guaranteed Tournament on Titan, I don't really remember what happened. I think I took an early chip lead on my table, and then I didn't get to play many hands until I was short stacked. I pushed with AJs in the cutoff, and the button woke up with AK to take me out.

In the third event, a 20$ NL event on Absolute, I took a few good pots early on. I was doing good, until a guy rivered a fullhouse with QT on a AQTx board, when I had KJ and we were pretty much all-in on the turn. Oh well.

The last event was a 20$ NL event on PokerRoom. I doubled up early, and then my cards were dead, until I got dealt KK. I raised to 100, MP min-raised me, big blind called, and I pushed for 1800 total. They both insta-called, and flipped over AK and 65s, leaving me as a 51% favorite. Of course, the flop was 66x and that was it for me.

Riverrun played the same tournaments and cashed in thrice, for about 200$ total. I'm still not sure if he's a machine or just on a huge rush, but it seems to be working. Anyhow, we'll find out at the 1500$ World Series of Poker event he's playing in Vegas next week.

Out of pills

I've started hearing again, and I can tell you, it feels pretty terrific!

I can get back to living again, which implies a few beers and some poker. I've mostly broken even in these few hours of play, but hopefully it wasn't my play, simply some bad luck. I don't remember any tough beat I gave to anyone, but I did run into Aces when I had Kings, and didn't hit my fair share of draws.

Yeah, it sounds like I'm whining, and my game might simply be off. The thing is, I usually know when I'm playing bad, and I don't have that feeling. Breaking even when you're running bad is just as important as winning big when you're lucky, and I like to think that's what I'm doing.

I'll be starting a new Project soon, on a new site, with a new structure. As you might remember, the last one was an absolute failure. I still think I have a good shot at succeeding, and hopefully, this time, I'll have my happy ending!