Friday, January 12, 2007
Random Thoughts
A few points of interest (or not) from the tournament this week :
Over the last week I had been moving in with a stack up to M8 (that is 8 times the blinds and antes before any action). However I decided that this was too much. Chen and Ankenman suggest M6 in early position and M7 in late, which I think is about right. I had upped it a bit to take into account the possibility of being (semi-)bluff reraised, but after a while I realised that no one was doing this to me anyway. It's rare enough to see someone make the first all-in without what would normally be considered a "good hand". So it's almost certainly better to make a normal raise with more than 6 early / 7 late and if you really think a reraiser might be at it, then call him. I switched to this mode of play this week and early results are promising :-). It's still worth noting that 6/7 is much higher than most players' all-in threshold. Over a drink with the guy I chopped with after the event, he said he had noticed that "you're moving in with like M6 or 7". As I said, he was sharp.
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Every little helps when it comes to setting your opponents on their heels. I was very happy that Johnny Grooms announced me as "making his second final table here at the WPO" because a couple of opponents started noticeably on hearing this. I was even more grateful that Johnny didn't point out that the other final was in a rinky-dink 100 runner stud tournament :-). If it's anyone's business I tipped an extra 2% because Johnny Grooms is a top man, his staff are excellent and the tournament is really well run. I haven't seen a bad ruling yet.
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Early on there was one guy at my table who seemed reasonably good but I wasn't really concerned about him as a threat. When he busted though, someone piped up "you just knocked out the best player at this table". I gave him "The Look" as he carried on "That was Jeremy Tinsley. Finished 3rd in the main event one year" [actually it was 5th, the year Devilfish won it]. Looking back I thought he was OK but he seemed to be creating more problems for himself than for anyone else, mostly by playing too many hands out of position. Just an observation.
============
Another point Snyder makes that I don't think I've commented on so far, and I haven't seen elsewhere, is that the most important phase of a tournament is not the final table, it's the "crunch time" as he calls it, the last phase in which you can press your opponents before it becomes an all-in fest. In this tournament we seemed to reach the final table quite quickly. Johnny Grooms commented that he wasn't expecting us to be finished by midnight on the first day, as we were. This was at least partly because there was no final bubble at all, 11th and 1oth were eliminated simultaneously on different tables. Even so, at the start of the final we were playing 3K/6K-1K (not 2/4 as I said on the other blog) with an average stack of 130K or about M7. Being ahead of the game at this point is so important that I'm inclined to agree with Snyder again. If you can move ahead of the game at "crunch time" then it makes the final table so much easier. All you have to do is steer clear of any other big stacks and you need to lose at least 2 pots to bust out.
============
The final table payout structure was rather odd, although I seem to remember that WSOP payouts were similar last year. 9th-3rd went up in even steps of about $3K, before the big jumps of 3rd-2nd $20K and 2nd-1st $40K (plus $10K counting the WPT seat). While I was ahead of the game this wasn't too much of an issue, but it was a sorry spectacle to see a couple of players nurse their small stacks and win 2 or 3 allins just to finish 5th or whatever. God bless 'em all the same, and what the hell, they were happy with their $16K so maybe who am I to argue.
============
Finally, what does this win mean to me ? Well, my plan on quitting work was to pay off my mortgage by grinding online (I was about £45K short) and then re-assess. This win basically saves me 7 or 8 months worth of Sit and Goes which really is a mercy. I'll stick to the plan, obviously it depends if I score another result on the trip, but I should be down to less than £10K to go. Cutting my interest payments from £200 a month to £50 is a nice bonus as well !
============
Oh, one more thing, I know this is a bit up myself but anyway I was flicking through like CardPlayer and Pokerpages and their ranking lists just to see if I dominated any of them. There's this list on Pokerpages called "Pro Rank 2" where I'm 12th. I clicked on the guy in the lead, who has twice as many points as me, and he has one result : a $29,000 win in a $300 rebuy with 160 runners. So that's apparently twice as good as $81,000 in a $500 freezeout with 600 runners. Just as I was wondering about this I saw the explanation. Their algorithm was developed by Paul Samuel :-)
Over the last week I had been moving in with a stack up to M8 (that is 8 times the blinds and antes before any action). However I decided that this was too much. Chen and Ankenman suggest M6 in early position and M7 in late, which I think is about right. I had upped it a bit to take into account the possibility of being (semi-)bluff reraised, but after a while I realised that no one was doing this to me anyway. It's rare enough to see someone make the first all-in without what would normally be considered a "good hand". So it's almost certainly better to make a normal raise with more than 6 early / 7 late and if you really think a reraiser might be at it, then call him. I switched to this mode of play this week and early results are promising :-). It's still worth noting that 6/7 is much higher than most players' all-in threshold. Over a drink with the guy I chopped with after the event, he said he had noticed that "you're moving in with like M6 or 7". As I said, he was sharp.
============
Every little helps when it comes to setting your opponents on their heels. I was very happy that Johnny Grooms announced me as "making his second final table here at the WPO" because a couple of opponents started noticeably on hearing this. I was even more grateful that Johnny didn't point out that the other final was in a rinky-dink 100 runner stud tournament :-). If it's anyone's business I tipped an extra 2% because Johnny Grooms is a top man, his staff are excellent and the tournament is really well run. I haven't seen a bad ruling yet.
============
Early on there was one guy at my table who seemed reasonably good but I wasn't really concerned about him as a threat. When he busted though, someone piped up "you just knocked out the best player at this table". I gave him "The Look" as he carried on "That was Jeremy Tinsley. Finished 3rd in the main event one year" [actually it was 5th, the year Devilfish won it]. Looking back I thought he was OK but he seemed to be creating more problems for himself than for anyone else, mostly by playing too many hands out of position. Just an observation.
============
Another point Snyder makes that I don't think I've commented on so far, and I haven't seen elsewhere, is that the most important phase of a tournament is not the final table, it's the "crunch time" as he calls it, the last phase in which you can press your opponents before it becomes an all-in fest. In this tournament we seemed to reach the final table quite quickly. Johnny Grooms commented that he wasn't expecting us to be finished by midnight on the first day, as we were. This was at least partly because there was no final bubble at all, 11th and 1oth were eliminated simultaneously on different tables. Even so, at the start of the final we were playing 3K/6K-1K (not 2/4 as I said on the other blog) with an average stack of 130K or about M7. Being ahead of the game at this point is so important that I'm inclined to agree with Snyder again. If you can move ahead of the game at "crunch time" then it makes the final table so much easier. All you have to do is steer clear of any other big stacks and you need to lose at least 2 pots to bust out.
============
The final table payout structure was rather odd, although I seem to remember that WSOP payouts were similar last year. 9th-3rd went up in even steps of about $3K, before the big jumps of 3rd-2nd $20K and 2nd-1st $40K (plus $10K counting the WPT seat). While I was ahead of the game this wasn't too much of an issue, but it was a sorry spectacle to see a couple of players nurse their small stacks and win 2 or 3 allins just to finish 5th or whatever. God bless 'em all the same, and what the hell, they were happy with their $16K so maybe who am I to argue.
============
Finally, what does this win mean to me ? Well, my plan on quitting work was to pay off my mortgage by grinding online (I was about £45K short) and then re-assess. This win basically saves me 7 or 8 months worth of Sit and Goes which really is a mercy. I'll stick to the plan, obviously it depends if I score another result on the trip, but I should be down to less than £10K to go. Cutting my interest payments from £200 a month to £50 is a nice bonus as well !
============
Oh, one more thing, I know this is a bit up myself but anyway I was flicking through like CardPlayer and Pokerpages and their ranking lists just to see if I dominated any of them. There's this list on Pokerpages called "Pro Rank 2" where I'm 12th. I clicked on the guy in the lead, who has twice as many points as me, and he has one result : a $29,000 win in a $300 rebuy with 160 runners. So that's apparently twice as good as $81,000 in a $500 freezeout with 600 runners. Just as I was wondering about this I saw the explanation. Their algorithm was developed by Paul Samuel :-)
# posted by Andy_Ward @ 8:03 PM 
Comments:
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Hi Andy,
hearty congratulations on your win, you have been long overdue a biggie.
Can you please explain the following to me, im possibly being a little slow.
"Over the last week I had been moving in with a stack up to M8 (that is 8 times the blinds and antes before any action). However I decided that this was too much. Chen and Ankenman suggest M6 in early position and M7 in late, which I think is about right. I had upped it a bit to take into account the possibility of being (semi-)bluff reraised, but after a while I realised that no one was doing this to me anyway. It's rare enough to see someone make the first all-in without what would normally be considered a "good hand". So it's almost certainly better to make a normal raise with more than 6 early / 7 late and if you really think a reraiser might be at it, then call him."
When you have an M of 6-7 and are moving "in",i take it that is all-in?
In that case how can you be seme-bluff re-raised?
Please explain, i have a lot of time for your insightful and always intersting views,
regards, Alex
Therefore how can you be bluff
hearty congratulations on your win, you have been long overdue a biggie.
Can you please explain the following to me, im possibly being a little slow.
"Over the last week I had been moving in with a stack up to M8 (that is 8 times the blinds and antes before any action). However I decided that this was too much. Chen and Ankenman suggest M6 in early position and M7 in late, which I think is about right. I had upped it a bit to take into account the possibility of being (semi-)bluff reraised, but after a while I realised that no one was doing this to me anyway. It's rare enough to see someone make the first all-in without what would normally be considered a "good hand". So it's almost certainly better to make a normal raise with more than 6 early / 7 late and if you really think a reraiser might be at it, then call him."
When you have an M of 6-7 and are moving "in",i take it that is all-in?
In that case how can you be seme-bluff re-raised?
Please explain, i have a lot of time for your insightful and always intersting views,
regards, Alex
Therefore how can you be bluff
Alex:
What I think Andy means is that he had been moving all-in with up to and including M8 because he had feared that a normal (say, 3x BB) raise with M7 and M8 could put him at a pressure-point if opponent (semi)-bluff reraised all-in. So Andy was going all-in with M7 and M8 to pre-empt this threat.
However, Andy noted that no-one was actually putting in all-in (semi) bluff reraises against him when he was putting in 3xBB raises with M9 to M11, so he pared down his normal raising range to M8 (M7 in early), because the threat he was afraid of was not real. And, even if someone tried it, he can always call it down.
Pete
What I think Andy means is that he had been moving all-in with up to and including M8 because he had feared that a normal (say, 3x BB) raise with M7 and M8 could put him at a pressure-point if opponent (semi)-bluff reraised all-in. So Andy was going all-in with M7 and M8 to pre-empt this threat.
However, Andy noted that no-one was actually putting in all-in (semi) bluff reraises against him when he was putting in 3xBB raises with M9 to M11, so he pared down his normal raising range to M8 (M7 in early), because the threat he was afraid of was not real. And, even if someone tried it, he can always call it down.
Pete
# posted by 
: 3:11 PM
: 3:11 PM
Im not Andy, but...
He had "upped it a bit" to M8 allin move, but he then realised that no-one was making semibluff reraises to his standard 3-4xBB raises, so he changed it back to M6 - M7 allin range.
Congrats Andy!
gl
Aksu
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He had "upped it a bit" to M8 allin move, but he then realised that no-one was making semibluff reraises to his standard 3-4xBB raises, so he changed it back to M6 - M7 allin range.
Congrats Andy!
gl
Aksu
# posted by : 6:29 PM
: 6:29 PM << Home
