Monday, November 30, 2009
No More Hands
In case you're on the edge of your seat waiting for the other two hands, I decided they were pretty standard. Basically I flat called from about 25BB with suited broadway, flopped top pair and ended up losing to 1) a back door flush and 2) top pair better kicker. It happens. And as pointed out below, the KK hand is probably a pretty standard bet-call as well so meh.
While I'm here I can "do" November ; it's been an odd month. Despite Amsterdam I've put in some decent volume. I binked two tournaments (Party 150 and Ongame 50 rebuy) in the early part of the month when I wasn't playing particularly well, then in the second half I played much better and did my brains obv. Still up on the month in the end though. I've been watching a lot of videos on Bluefirepoker, Phil Galfond mostly, they're really good and are helping me no end in regard to hand-reading and exploiting opponents according to their tendencies.
There are also a couple of interesting threads on 2+2 that are worth checking out, one about Shaun Deeb retiring from tourneys and another being the one that pops up every three months or so asking Does any long-term MTT grinder still enjoy it ? I chip in to emphasise keeping a balance ; I think it's hugely important. There's no way anyone could keep putting in Deeb-volume indefinitely, but I still do enjoy playing 3 (max 4) nights a week and spending some time thinking about how to improve. For example I could play tonight, but I'm skipping it to just chill. The golf course was half underwater today :(, so I'll have more time to play next couple of months anyway.
Also : ZOMG, I played with this guy in a TV Sit-N-Go !
While I'm here I can "do" November ; it's been an odd month. Despite Amsterdam I've put in some decent volume. I binked two tournaments (Party 150 and Ongame 50 rebuy) in the early part of the month when I wasn't playing particularly well, then in the second half I played much better and did my brains obv. Still up on the month in the end though. I've been watching a lot of videos on Bluefirepoker, Phil Galfond mostly, they're really good and are helping me no end in regard to hand-reading and exploiting opponents according to their tendencies.
There are also a couple of interesting threads on 2+2 that are worth checking out, one about Shaun Deeb retiring from tourneys and another being the one that pops up every three months or so asking Does any long-term MTT grinder still enjoy it ? I chip in to emphasise keeping a balance ; I think it's hugely important. There's no way anyone could keep putting in Deeb-volume indefinitely, but I still do enjoy playing 3 (max 4) nights a week and spending some time thinking about how to improve. For example I could play tonight, but I'm skipping it to just chill. The golf course was half underwater today :(, so I'll have more time to play next couple of months anyway.
Also : ZOMG, I played with this guy in a TV Sit-N-Go !
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Two Hands
I have four hands to talk about, and while they're all slightly different, they split quite nicely into two pairs and I want to bang on about them at great length so I thought I'd split it up. All four hands happened within the last two sessions, and what they all have in common is that even six months ago I would have just whacked the money in and said "ZOMG Cooler FML". But now, after playing about half a million hands in three years, I am beginning to pick up some rudimentary hand-reading skills. And I really wish that was a joke.
The first two hands are spots where a judicious turn check would have saved my "tournament life". First one's from memory as it's on Paradise. Middle stage of the tournament, I have 20K and I think it's 300-600, something like that. 3rd position open-raises, I call in the cut-off with AQ and one of the blinds calls as well. Flop comes Axx rainbow, blinds checks, raiser checks, I bet, blind folds, raiser calls. Fairly standard so far. People tend to overplay medium hands on Paradise quite badly so I like my hand here and am preparing to go to the felt with it [1]. Turn, however, is an offsuit Ten. He checks I bet he calls. River blank he checks again and something tells me I should check back, but there's only 6K behind and at least 20K in the pot (maybe I started with less than 20). I can't resist the bet, he calls with AT.
The point is that when we think a little bit deeper than "ZOMG AQ stack off" and do some hand reading, it gets more interesting. He should have quite a narrow range for check-calling the flop. Logically it should only be something like AJ-A9, KK-99, maybe a small set. There aren't many players on Paradise (or anywhere really) tricky enough to check-call AK there. Given that range, a Ten is probably the worst card to come off on the turn. It hits AT and TT obv. It should make AJ very uncomfortable (if he has AJ) because now what can I have that he beats ? What can he reasonably call a turn bet with that I'm still in front of ? AJ seems like about it. So I'm way ahead or way behind (3 outs max either way), which is usually a good pointer towards checking a street, and seeing as I had the option to check either turn or river I could have taken one of them.
The second hand is in the Party $150 last night. I have 2600 and it's 30-60. I pick up KK in the cut-off, standard 3x raise, big blind calls. Flop T75 rainbow, check bet call, all pretty straightforward so far. Turn is an 8 (making a 2-flush). Now he checks, I bet, he raises all in, I sigh-call and can't bink against 87. Same again, let's do some hand-reading when he calls my flop bet. Reasonable hands that I'm still well in front of : AT-JT is about it, even AT might have checkraised or led flop. Reasonable hands that now have a pair+draw : T9, 99, 98, 97, 86, 76, 66, 65. Hands that now lead : T8, 88, 87, J9, 96, 64 (the three straights being less likely) [2]. The rest aren't so likely, maybe A7, KQ/KJ/QJ, stuff like that, plus a few hands that were already in front, sets mostly. He was playing 40/7 so he could easily turn up with any of those hands pre-flop. As in the previous hand, the turn has helped about as much of his range as it could possibly have done. The temptation on the turn for me is to think "ZOMG must protect against T9", but you always have to balance protecting your hand against the possibility that you're just shovelling money in from behind [3].
In the event, he has so many semi-bluffing hands that I don't think calling the check-raise is too bad. I'm at least 55% against the range if he check-raises all his pair+draws. The point is that checking the turn allows me to pick up a ton of information on the river. What card comes off obv, and then what he does. If it comes something scary like a J, 9, 6 or 4 I can fold to a big bet for two reasons. One, the line check-call flop, check-check turn, bet large river is very often an attempted turn check-raise that now wants to make up for the lost value on the turn. Two, when these cards hit, he either got there or he has showdown value, and if he has showdown value he's very unlikely to make a big bet. Again, at this level of tournaments, there are very few players sharp enough to turn something like A7 into a bluff on the river. Neither will they balance their range by betting something like JT that rivers two pair. To summarize my river action : scare card, check behind, bemoan life and probably call a small bet, fold to a big one ; non-scare card, bet if checked to, probably fold to check-raise, call a small bet, bemoan life and probably call a big bet. It's not perfect but it's probably better than just whacking it in at 55%/forcing a lot of losing hands out on the turn.
[1] People like me by the looks of it ...
[2] Notice how many extra hands come in here because of the 5 on the flop. T72 would have been quite a bit different.
[3] Notice on TV that no one ever says "Well [hero] should bet to protect his hand" in the particular case where villain has a set.
The first two hands are spots where a judicious turn check would have saved my "tournament life". First one's from memory as it's on Paradise. Middle stage of the tournament, I have 20K and I think it's 300-600, something like that. 3rd position open-raises, I call in the cut-off with AQ and one of the blinds calls as well. Flop comes Axx rainbow, blinds checks, raiser checks, I bet, blind folds, raiser calls. Fairly standard so far. People tend to overplay medium hands on Paradise quite badly so I like my hand here and am preparing to go to the felt with it [1]. Turn, however, is an offsuit Ten. He checks I bet he calls. River blank he checks again and something tells me I should check back, but there's only 6K behind and at least 20K in the pot (maybe I started with less than 20). I can't resist the bet, he calls with AT.
The point is that when we think a little bit deeper than "ZOMG AQ stack off" and do some hand reading, it gets more interesting. He should have quite a narrow range for check-calling the flop. Logically it should only be something like AJ-A9, KK-99, maybe a small set. There aren't many players on Paradise (or anywhere really) tricky enough to check-call AK there. Given that range, a Ten is probably the worst card to come off on the turn. It hits AT and TT obv. It should make AJ very uncomfortable (if he has AJ) because now what can I have that he beats ? What can he reasonably call a turn bet with that I'm still in front of ? AJ seems like about it. So I'm way ahead or way behind (3 outs max either way), which is usually a good pointer towards checking a street, and seeing as I had the option to check either turn or river I could have taken one of them.
The second hand is in the Party $150 last night. I have 2600 and it's 30-60. I pick up KK in the cut-off, standard 3x raise, big blind calls. Flop T75 rainbow, check bet call, all pretty straightforward so far. Turn is an 8 (making a 2-flush). Now he checks, I bet, he raises all in, I sigh-call and can't bink against 87. Same again, let's do some hand-reading when he calls my flop bet. Reasonable hands that I'm still well in front of : AT-JT is about it, even AT might have checkraised or led flop. Reasonable hands that now have a pair+draw : T9, 99, 98, 97, 86, 76, 66, 65. Hands that now lead : T8, 88, 87, J9, 96, 64 (the three straights being less likely) [2]. The rest aren't so likely, maybe A7, KQ/KJ/QJ, stuff like that, plus a few hands that were already in front, sets mostly. He was playing 40/7 so he could easily turn up with any of those hands pre-flop. As in the previous hand, the turn has helped about as much of his range as it could possibly have done. The temptation on the turn for me is to think "ZOMG must protect against T9", but you always have to balance protecting your hand against the possibility that you're just shovelling money in from behind [3].
In the event, he has so many semi-bluffing hands that I don't think calling the check-raise is too bad. I'm at least 55% against the range if he check-raises all his pair+draws. The point is that checking the turn allows me to pick up a ton of information on the river. What card comes off obv, and then what he does. If it comes something scary like a J, 9, 6 or 4 I can fold to a big bet for two reasons. One, the line check-call flop, check-check turn, bet large river is very often an attempted turn check-raise that now wants to make up for the lost value on the turn. Two, when these cards hit, he either got there or he has showdown value, and if he has showdown value he's very unlikely to make a big bet. Again, at this level of tournaments, there are very few players sharp enough to turn something like A7 into a bluff on the river. Neither will they balance their range by betting something like JT that rivers two pair. To summarize my river action : scare card, check behind, bemoan life and probably call a small bet, fold to a big one ; non-scare card, bet if checked to, probably fold to check-raise, call a small bet, bemoan life and probably call a big bet. It's not perfect but it's probably better than just whacking it in at 55%/forcing a lot of losing hands out on the turn.
[1] People like me by the looks of it ...
[2] Notice how many extra hands come in here because of the 5 on the flop. T72 would have been quite a bit different.
[3] Notice on TV that no one ever says "Well [hero] should bet to protect his hand" in the particular case where villain has a set.
Monday, November 02, 2009
October Wrap / Amsterdam
Nicked $5K last month and another $3500 yesterday with a 3rd in the Tilt $69 6-max. That is a great tournament by the way, people spew horrendously just because it's 6-max, or for whatever reason, anyway they do. I have decided that I need to change my outlook a little bit ; for three years I've always looked forward to playing, but now not quite so much. Nonetheless, if playing online keeps me on the golf course the rest of the time instead of in an office then that's what I need to do, and I need to approach it more professionally. It's still fun going deep in a tournament, but the rest of the time I need to play well and not be too gung-ho about "double or bust" even if it's slightly dull at times. It's still 100x less dull than a real job so I need to just suck it up.
Apart from that, finally saw my WPO heat today, or Part 1 anyway. I liked the way it came out generally, the changes Matchroom have made have really improved the show. Slightly disappointed that my flop 3-bet against Schaffer with the nut low (alright a straight draw) missed the cut, whereas all my donk calls were front and centre, but Phil Laak wasn't too hard on me so I can live with it. Woteva. Speaking of woteva, I thought Luke Schwartz made a couple of odd plays that made him look not quite so good when you can see the cards, but woteva.
Off to Amsterdam next week with Withnails Poker School. Check out the site if you haven't seen it, there's a 3-minute interview with me looking like a pumpkin head thanks to Tristan's cheapo camera work. It has occurred to me that in the last three live tournaments I played I have re-shipped the standard 20BBs only to get called by KQ, KJ and KQ again (I was actually in front of the KJ because I had KQ aka the nuts). If that's the way it's going, I need to be a bit more patient live in those spots. I can always wait to the jam stage, especially with high live antes.
Apart from that, finally saw my WPO heat today, or Part 1 anyway. I liked the way it came out generally, the changes Matchroom have made have really improved the show. Slightly disappointed that my flop 3-bet against Schaffer with the nut low (alright a straight draw) missed the cut, whereas all my donk calls were front and centre, but Phil Laak wasn't too hard on me so I can live with it. Woteva. Speaking of woteva, I thought Luke Schwartz made a couple of odd plays that made him look not quite so good when you can see the cards, but woteva.
Off to Amsterdam next week with Withnails Poker School. Check out the site if you haven't seen it, there's a 3-minute interview with me looking like a pumpkin head thanks to Tristan's cheapo camera work. It has occurred to me that in the last three live tournaments I played I have re-shipped the standard 20BBs only to get called by KQ, KJ and KQ again (I was actually in front of the KJ because I had KQ aka the nuts). If that's the way it's going, I need to be a bit more patient live in those spots. I can always wait to the jam stage, especially with high live antes.
