Poker

Thu - July 19, 2007

What Nick didn't tell you....

The results are in and the winner is....

As you already know, if you read Nick's blog, the WSOP ME is over. Jerry Yang takes down a pretty monster prize at 8.25 Million. And like Nick, I'm more excited to see someone with a bit of humility take the championship because we all know there are far better players out there (like, for instance, all of my 5 original fantasy picks) who got sucked out on by some two-outer or other bad beat.

But the real story here is what Nick seemingly forgot to mention in his posts - the final standings and prize payouts. So without further ado, here's how the final table ended up:

Place Player Prize
1. Jerry Yang $8,250,000
2. Tuan Lam $4,840,981
3. Raymond Rahme $3,048,025
4. Alexander Kravchenko $1,852,721
5. Jon Kalmar $1,255,069
6. Hevad (RainKhan) Khan $956,243
7. Lee Childs $705,229
8. Lee Watkinson $585,699
9. Phillip Hilm $525,934

Tallying those cashes, we have Nick's two guys:

5. Jon Kalmar $1,255,069
8. Lee Watkinson $ 585,699
Total $1,840,768

And we have my two guys:
3. Raymond Rahme $3,048,025
6. Hevad (RainKhan) Khan $956,243
Total $4,004,268

Seeing as I just commended the new champ on his humility, I'll try not to rub it in Nick's face too bad... but this was a blog bragging rights competition. But Nick did make two solid picks (Lee Watkinson, in particular, I would have expected to go deeper) and it was a lot of fun.

As Paul Harvey would say - now you know the rest of the story.

Mon - July 16, 2007

WSOP ME - Final Table

Nick and I once again redraw

So Nick was able to do reasonably well with his redraw of our fantasy competition, but work prevented me from even thinking about the WSOP (thankfully, it didn't prevent me from cashing in one home game at work - 2nd - and taking 17th or so out of 51 at the Bad Beat Poker Club. I would have liked to finish stronger, but both games were some of the best short stacked poker I've ever played, and the BBPC bust out happened on the river when he caught one of 4 remaining outs).

Anyway, the WSOP ME doesn't wait for me and they've now played down to the final table. Only 9 players remain and the chip counts are all reasonably close. Nick is taking Lee Watkinson and John Kalmar and has once again thrown down the gauntlet. I'm hoping that at least one of us is able to pick the winner, since we will have almost half the final table on one of our teams. Watkinson is a good choice, and I probably would have gone with him if Nick hadn't picked first. Nonetheless, pros don't seem to do to well of late at the final table. Kalmar I don't know, but he does have one of the monster stacks.

I'm going to go with RainKhan and Raymond Rahme. Khan is a twoplustwo forum poster who is best known for a video of him multitabling 26 sit-n-go tournaments. I would really love to see a 2p2er win (again, actually, since Raymer was a 2p2 poster long before we knew him as WSOP Champ). Raymond Rahme I picked just because WSOP/ESPN/Bluff Magazine doesn't even have a picture of him in their player DB - not to mention they don't record a single cash for him. Now thats a guy I can relate to, so I have to root for him. He also has a pretty sizable stack at 16M, so hopefully he can make some good plays.

Thu - July 12, 2007

WSOP Fantasy Updated - Busted

Nick and I both take some major losses in day 2A and 2B

So here's the sad update on me and Nick's progress:

Nick's Guys:
1. Daniel - busted
2. Greg Raymer -busted
3. Freddy Deeb - busted
4. Paul Wasicka - busted
5. Jeffrey Lisandro - busted

My Guys:
1. Phil Ivey - busted
2. Dan Harrington - busted
3. Phil Hellmuth - busted
4. Allen Cunningham - busted
5. Nath Pizzolato - busted

Yep, thats right. I had half-written this post yesterday when things were a little less bleak, but now more results are in an official and neither of us have a horse left in this race. And neither of us had a guy anywhere near cashing. Goes to show you just how hard it is to do well in tournaments with such a huge field - even notably excellent players still end up a longshot. So I guess we call this a tie?

Anyway, here's to hoping for an exciting rest of the Main Event - we'll just have to pick new people to root for.

Sun - July 8, 2007

WSSOP ME Fantasy Team Update

Where my guys are after Days 1A and 1B and some of 1C

My fantasy challenge with Nick continues as the first few days of the Main Event have finished. First, a little background for those new to the WSOP ME. There are an estimate 6,000 people playing in this year's tournament (down a bit from last year's boom of over 8k entrants - disappointing, but still shockingly high levels compared to even a few years ago). Obviously, there's nowhere to sit that many people at poker tables, so they break it up into 4 days of playing - 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D. Essentially, all of these are day 1, but they don't all happen on the same day. Then they do something similar with day two, having an A and a B. Finally after several people have been eliminated in all of that play, the field is small enough that they will all be playing at the same time, right up until one guy ends up with all the chips in the event.

So Days 1A and 1B have been played, and some of the reports have come in. And Day 1C is being played today, and some live updates are up as of this post. Of course, all of this at this point is totally unverified, so it's likely to be wrong on a few. So here's where we stand so far:

Nick's Guys:
1. Daniel - hasn't played yet (20,000)
2. Greg Raymer - hasn't played yet (20,000)
3. Freddy Deeb - hasn't played yet (20,000)
4. Paul Wasicka - made it to day 2 with 22,500
5. Jeffrey Lisandro - busted

My Guys:
1. Phil Ivey - currently playing Day 1C - 54,000
2. Dan Harrington - made it to Day 2 with 48,000
3. Phil Hellmuth - hasn't played yet (20,000)
4. Allen Cunningham - made it to Day 2 with 29,500
5. Nath Pizzolato - hasn't played yet (but judging from his blog, he will be)

In other news... I've added a link to my online tobacco cellar on the sidebar. That should be all of the tobacco I own... only 11 years worth of smoking left. I need to get some more. Oh, and I'm a huge geek, if I haven't mentioned that before.

UPDATE (8:50 PM, EDT): Ouch, a bittersweet update. I saw Allen Cunningham has surged up to 45.5k in chips, but Phil Ivey has busted out. However, the news doesn't get better for Nick either, as Greg Raymer also took the walk of shame. I'm a little surprised on both counts; I would have expected both to go much deeper than day 1. But both play an aggressive and sometimes risky style.

Fri - July 6, 2007

My Fantasy WSOP ME team

I challenged Nick to a friendly blog-brag bet for the WSOP ME

My old friend Nick posted today on the World Series of Poker Main Event (the WSOP ME for the uninitiated in internet abbreviations), which kicks off today. It is THE poker tournament - some 7-10 thousand hopefuls each kick in a $10k buyin and vie for the coveted title and bracelet. On top of the prestige of the event, the prize money is simply astounding with all of those who made the final table last year becoming millionaires.

Now neither Nick nor I will be seeing that anytime soon, so we have to settle for a fan's duel - and that means putting together a fantasy team. I suggested in his comments on his first post that he throw out his top 5 picks and I'll throw out mine and we'll see who's picks manage to cash the most. Nick has taken the challenge, so here's my response.

Here's my top 5:

1. Phil Ivey - This is a guy who most pros will tell you is the best player they face. He has great instincts, is incredibly aggressive and nearly impossible to read. Plus, he has these really scary eyes that make him look like he's always nervous.

2. Dan Harrington - Action Dan has not only won the ME, he also made the final table in back to back years (03 and 04), which is an amazing feat in the poker boom. He wrote by far my three most favorite poker books (Harrington on Hold'Em) and knows the game, particularly NLHE tournaments, exceptionally well.

~~3. Paul Wasicka~~ - DOH! Nick stole him before I posted....

3. Phil Hellmuth - Sure his book sucked and he acts like an idiot most of the time and yeah, his cash game is widely regarded as dead money to most pros, but he's also a vastly underrated in NLHE tournaments. He's the only person ever with 11 WSOP bracelets and he just keeps cashing in these events (he holds the records for most cashes as well).

4. Allen Cunnigham - Scary smart and very skilled, he went very deep in last year's ME (in fact, I thought he'd win it, but luck box Jamie Gold was just unstoppable). I'm hoping he can pull a Harrington and at least make the final table again.

5. Nath Pizzolatto / Mike O'Malley - my dark horse candidate(s). I don't know if Nath is playing, but he's a guy who posts a bunch on 2+2 and Paul Phillips' blog. He had a pretty big 2nd place cash at last year's series (not the ME) and from his comments on his blog and others he knows what he's doing. He also has a great sense of humor - using Will Ferrel as Goulet for his avatar... how can I not root for that? If he's not playing in this year's ME, then my backup choice is Mike O'Malley. He's been in poker forever and writes for Cardplayer - plus, judging from his blog, he's taken some awful beats this series and outta be due for some payback.

So there you have it. I'll post some updates later as things get rolling.

Sat - November 19, 2005

Home game - 11/18

Another home tournament recap

Friday night I played in another home tournament. Most of the usual guys were there, who I haven't played with since 6/24. My friend Wade, who hosts our reading group as well, hosted this tournament. Turn out was rather large for this group, with 22 people entering the first tournament.

I played reasonably well in the first tournament, but kept getting pushed out of pots by some overspenders. All night long I'd hold something like J-4, limp in for a cheap flop, catch my jack but with an overcard and watch other people bet and then raise big amounts. Of course I'd fold in these situations, knowing that most likely someone is holding the J with a better kicker or has paired up the overcard, and then a 4 would come down on the turn. And then a 4 would come down on the river. It was like that all night, but thats why aggression can be such a powerful tactic in NLHE.

Even though my stack had dwindled, I did a good job of picking my spots as the field thinned out. I hit a few all in double ups here and there to keep from being blinded to death and then ultimately picked a great spot that just didn't work out. With a decent stack left (something like 8k after we saw the flop) I got into a pot with Q-x (don't remember, but it was small, and I think I was suited) out of the big blind. Flop comes something like Q-4-K, and is checked to me. I check to Wade who checks it as well. Turn comes with a 5. It is again checked to me, so I check to Wade and he fires in 5k and I'm almost completely convinced he doesn't have the King. The other player in the hand (who I was also sure did not have the king because of the check and because of she played a lot of mediocre starting hands all night) calls his bet and I fire it all in over the top. Wade folds what he later told me was a straight draw (I had mistakenly put him on a flush draw, but I was close) and the other player calls with 45. I was correct in both my no king and junk starting hand assessment, but two pair still whoops my queens. The river was quick to pile on with another 5 right afterward - my queens more than drowned by a full boat.

The second, smaller tournament, however, treated me much better. It was just a $5 buy-in, 6 player quick tournament, with the 2nd spot getting their buy-in back, and the top spot taking the rest. I managed to wrestle my way into that top spot and take home the $25. It was a pretty tough match on the bubble and heads up at the end, with a few gut wrenching stack ups and downs. I made a few good calls here and there to double up, an overzealous bad call here or there to half myself, and ultimately played pretty well.

So the end result of the night is that I broke completely even - not a penny more, not a penny less. Not bad - a night of lots of good poker for free. I realized that I have never won the first tournament with these guys - but I've also never lost the second. In fact, I've never even finished anything other than first in the second one (3/3). I think I need to sit out the first tournament and play only the second ones from now on.

Summary:
Initial buy-in = ($20)
2nd Tournament buy-in = ($5)
2nd Tournament win = + $25
Day's Total: $0
Total this year: + $10
(not including online games)

Mon - September 5, 2005

Hawaiian Gardens Reprise

It's not so much a bad beat story as it is a shouldn't have been there in the first place story

Today I played in the Hawaiian Gardens No Limit Hold'em tournament for the second time. They have changed the structure of their tournament and that led for some interesting developments, which I will discuss later.

But first, this just in - I got humbled... big time. There is almost nothing I can take away from today and say that I did well, except that I got up and left right after I spent exactly as much money as I planned on. I didn't go on tilt, or try and win money back, and as much as my prideful self wants to jump online and smack some people around to make up for the beating I took today, I'm not going to do it.

Most of my early hands I played pretty well, but after getting the right amount of money in pre-flop, I just completely missed the flop. After that I had 2-3 hands that I played pretty well, getting all of my chips in the pot with the best hand (one of those hands I had dominated with only one card to come, and as the other guy was counting out how many chips to give me, and Ace came on the river, counterfeited my
hand and we split the pot - oh well, that's poker).

Later on, I busted out by overplaying a pair of nines. One of the nines was a heart, and the board was 7-4-2 or some such undercards - all hearts. So I have an overpair with a flush draw and I thought that was a good enough hand to push all over my chips over the top of another guy's raise. Turns out has has a made flush, though I have a higher flush draw. the draw never came, and I busted out.

So I decided to re-buy and get another 600 in chips. After wading into a hand or two and not making much, I ended up in a hand with the guy to my right. A few people in pre-flop, a mild bet on the flop - I think it was 100 or so - and a call from me and folds from the rest. The pot is pretty decent after the flop and turn, 500+ or so, and he bets 300 into me. I'm sitting with maybe 340-380 in front of me and A-K. There's nothing but undercards on the board, and I can't really put him on anything strong, as his earlier bets were a bit weak and he's got a pretty huge stack, so its likely he could just be leaning on me. So I move all in and find he is sitting on a pair of 3s - I have 6 outs and one card to come and it all went according to the percentages and knocked me out of there on my butt for the second time.

Incidentally, I read a new name for A-K in CardPlayer as I was waiting for the tournament to start - not knowing how apropos it would end up. It's new nickname is Anna Kournikova - partially due to AK being her initials, but mostly due to the fact that both of them look nice, but rarely ever win. I laughed when I read that, but when it happened to me? not so much

Having spent my fitty ($50) I just got up and left. As I said in the beginning, thats the part of my play today of which to be proud - gotta know when to fold 'em and all that. I played at a table that had some good players, I wasn't playing great, and on top of it all the structure of the tournament was really set against a guy, like me, who doesn't want to spend much more than his buy-in - and this is the topic I wanted to address.

For $30 buy-in, you got 300 in chips. That's a pretty small stack, even when the blinds are only 10-15. But the wacky part of their set up is that you get 300 in chips for only a $10 re-buy, and re-buys are unlimited. That means that your buy-in chips are 10 for $1, but your re-buy chips are 30 for $1, or roughly one third cheaper. The effect this has, combined with the re-buys being unlimited, is that it makes your buyin an insignificant portion of your tournament expense, because you'd be silly not to spend additional money to get the extra chips. If you don't re-buy, then every chip you put in is worth about 3x more to you than your opponent's chips are worth to them, or to say it differently they can call you by paying a third less in chips.

The predictable effect this has is that people re-buy before the first hand even begins and anyone with just their buyin chips is totally short stacked. I figured I would just play it like this, treat it as though I'm the short stack and work on my short stack game, but my table had some really expensive flops. It was common for the flop to cost you 75 to see, and not unusual for it to be 150, even while the blinds were 10-15, and 150 when you only have 300 is a LOT of chips just to see a flop. With 10 people at a table, you really need a good hand to wade in.

I realize I could have taken that strategy, and with a chip up available that was even cheaper than re-buys - 500 in chips for $10, or 1000 for $20 - it would have been a good strategy. After all, the blinds were only 15-30 when I busted out, and that takes a while to eat through a 600 chip stack with 10 players. But to really compete in the tournament, and have any shot of lasting out the middle stages, you need to pick up some chips in the beginning. All of this ultimately adds up to this - you shouldn't be playing in this tournament unless you plan on spending a lot more than the buy-in, somewhere probably in the neighborhood of $100. I was not interested in spending that much, and unfortunately the math of it all only became clear on the drive home as I was steaming from being knocked out so early. If I had thought this out before buying in, I probably would have skipped this event - in fact, I don't foresee myself playing in a casino tournament for quite some time. I have much better results, for much less cash outlay, playing online tournaments - where I actually won $48 for second place in a tournament I didn't even have to pay to enter. Although I'm not including my online money in my running summary below, I guess I could look at it as a loss of only $2 on the day (since the chunk of pride I lost doesn't really hold monetary value)

Summary:
Initial buy-in = ($30)
re-buy = ($20)
Day's Total: - $50
Total this year: + $10
(not including online games)

Sat - June 25, 2005

Home game - 6/24

A disappointing finish in my last home game

This is another post that I am finishing up at a later date because I never got a chance to jot down my thoughts on this game. I'm putting this up because I want to keep the running summary in place so it will make sense.

One thing I can remember clearly about this game is busting out on a rather stupid hand. I had something like J-10s and my opponent had A-x. The flop came with both a ten and an ace, and from the way he bet it, I figured he didn't have the ace, but was hanging in on a flush draw or something along those lines. On the turn came another Ace and now I was pretty sure he didn't have the ace (after all, he'd have to have one of the only remaining 2 in the deck). Very bad read - after I was all in, he turned over the ace and sent me packing.

One other interesting note, one guy at this game folded every single hand he was dealt. He didn't even play his cards out of the blinds. I think I saw him in 2 hands the whole night, and they were pretty small hands. As stupid of a strategy as that is... he was still playing when I left. There's something to be said about playing tight.

Summary:
Buy-in for tournament = ($20)
Night's Total: - $20
Total this year: + $60

Sat - June 4, 2005

Home Game - 6/3

I played in another home game

I don't have much to report about this home game, as its been a long time since it was player. But I wanted to get this post up to keep the running summary going so that it will all make sense.

This home game was a pretty good match for me and I actually played really well. I made one or two excellent reads - the first one being a great call and the other being a great laydown. Unfortunately, it couldn't propel me far enough and I finished 5th out of 13 or so - on the bubble, so no money.

Summary:
Buy-in for tournament = ($20)
Tournament - Fifth place, $0
Night's Total: - $20
Total this year: + $80

Tue - May 31, 2005

Hawaiian Gardens No Limit Hold'em Tournament

I entered the Hawaiian Gardens No Limit event, and finished 50 something

Today I entered my first ever real casino poker tournament at Hawaiian Gardens. Over 350 people entered the tournament, including me and my friend Rickmode (who busted out in the first 15 min or so and didn't want to rebuy - though I will say he went down swinging with a quality hand, big slick, A-K). I managed to make it all the way down to 50-something or so. Sadly, 27th place would have been in the money.

I played a pretty good tight game for most of the early day, jumping in when I had quality hands and mixing it up just enough to not be predictable. Early on, I picked up some really good hands and was actually the chip leader at my table at the break. I even flopped 4 Kings at one point and put a brutal check-raise on a younger college-aged kid - I went on to beat him in a couple of rough hands and even knocked him out of the tournament later.

I even had a really good table image going because most of my hands were won with a strong bet on the river or the turn and I could fold my cards face down - meaning most people at the table couldn't be sure if I was bluffing at all of these pots or coming in with some good hands. In fact, that might also be the one negative thing I did early on. I could have been a little overzealous in some of my bets when I knew I had the best hand. The general poker rule they say is "better to win a small pot than lose a large one", which means you need to be careful about getting someone to call you because they could end up beating you. On the other hand, there are times when you are pretty sure you have the best hand and it might be a good idea to try and extract a little more out of your opponents. I think I erred on the right side in this tournament, but I there were a few hands I probably overbet.

After I was chip leader at the first break, I proceeded to get almost no playable hands for the next 2 hours or so. I watched my stack fall as I folded hand after hand, and by now they had started collecting antes as well as blinds so it was starting to cut in on me. Nonetheless, I actually think this is one of the best things about my play today. I did a good job folding marginal hands and staying out of bad hands. This is a good strategy in a tournament because the more people that bust out of the tournament the closer you are to the money (remember, it pays all the way down to 27th, so if you can stay in long enough to make it there you can collect cash).

Unfortunately, at some point I got shuffled to a new table - they periodically break up tables as players are eliminated to keep it with 10 players at each table. This is always a rough spot to be in, because everything you have done so far to give off a certain table image or read your opponents is thrown right out the window and you have to start from scratch. As it turned out, I did a good job settling in at this table and caught a few decent cards to start building my stack back up a bit. But then, right as I was about to pay the big blind, they switched me to another new table and right into the big blind. I had about 10-14k in chips, and the next two hands the button went all in both times so I folded. Just in folding those two hands, I had lost half of my stack.

Reeling from that observation and the realization that stealing the blinds could lead to regaining all of my chips, I went all in with a very mediocre hand (I think it was 6-8 suited). The idea here was to steal the blinds and put myself back in a place where I could get a better feel for the table. It had the added bonus of being a small hand, but suited and almost connected, so if the bluff succeeded I had planned on turning over the bluff and announcing "eight high" with a wry smile. This would give the impression that I am a very loose player, which I could then tighten up and get some big calls when I had the advantage. It almost worked... small blind folded and the big blind took forever to make the call. I honestly thought he was going away, but he finally announced the call and turned over a K-4. He loudly applauded himself for making such a good call, but as it stood he was really only like a 52-46 favorite so it wasn't much of which to be proud (of course, he had me covered, so it was a good move for him to gamble even with a slight advantage). When my suit didn't come up and he hit a King on the flop, my tournament life only needed a few more seconds to be over.

All in all its not bad for my first real tournament. I'm not going to say that its not disappointing to not have finished in the money, but there is some satisfaction in knowing I beat almost 300 poker players today.

Summary:
Initial buy-in = ($25)
Rebuy = ($20)
Chip-up = ($20)
Day's Total: - $65
Total this year: + $100

Sat - May 28, 2005

Home game - 5/27

Another homegame, another win

(This post was hastily thrown together a while back, so I don't have many specific thoughts on this particular game, but I wanted to post it for my running total summaries to make sense)

I played in another home game of poker tonight and managed to come away with another win. We also played some cash games after the main tournament which were all sorts of weird poker disciplines - 7 card stud, omaha hi-lo split, guts, and even plain old 5 card draw (and very wacky variations involving passing cards). I'm not as good at some of these more exotic forms of poker and I was happy just to manage to keep my stack right where it started - I bought in for $20 and cashed out at $20.10.

I happened to be very lucky to do as well as I did in the Hold 'em game, however, as I was all-in in a very tough spot. My friend Wade had a good hand pre-flop (I think it was Q-Q or something like that) and I had just enough of a hand to push everything in (I can't remember if it was a suited connector like 8-9 or an A-J suited). I wasn't really looking to play the hand, but rather I was interested in hopefully stealing the blinds with a decent fall back plan if someone did call me - a psuedo-bluff, which can be a good idea if its later in the tournament and you still have enough chips to keep someone from calling you.

Wade, however, was pretty much determined to call me no matter what in the hopes of ending my tournament life right there. After calling my all-in, Wade flopped trips (three of a kind) and a virtual strangle hold on the hand. I would need runner-runner to beat him (two cards that matched my suit to make the flush), and thats exactly what happened. It was probably one of the worst beats I've ever personally handed out, but I was just extremely glad to still be in the tournament.

Summary:
$10 buy-in for tournament = ($10)
$20 buy-in for cash game = ($20)
Tournament - First place, $50
Cash game finish = $20
Night's Total: + $50
Total this year: + $165

Wed - April 27, 2005

Homegame - 4/22 - Part II

More thoughts on my last poker game, including some general rules

This is part 2 of my thoughts from a home tournament I played in (Part I here).

Poker Rule #1 - Never get heavily involved in the first hand (or any early hand) of a tournament unless you have the nuts.
I was the first one to bomb out of the first round mainly because of the first hand of the night. I crippled myself so bad that I didn't ever really have the chips to recover after that hand. I limped in with an A-3, and the flop came 2-4-6. I figured I had a pretty good hand here with the gutshot straight draw and the A overcard so I bet what I thought was enough to push the only remaining player out of the pot. He raised and I called. That was my first mistake. When nothing came up for me on the turn, I checked and he bet it and I called hoping that the river might complete my straight for the amount of money that was out there. That was my second mistake. When the river brought me nothing, I checked my Ace high and he bet into me again. At this point I figured that there was so much money in the pot I had to call, and I lost to his pocket Kings.

I think I played this hand ok before the flop, although mucking A-x would probably have been the best idea so early in the tournament. After I was raised on the flop, I probably should have thrown it out, although his bet wasn't that large. But failing all of that, I definitely should have thrown the hand out when I missed on the turn. I only had 7 outs with only one more card to come, and thats just not worth throwing any more chips out there. Once it got down to the river, I had to call simply because of the pot odds, but I never should have let it get there.

So why did I get involved in this hand? The answer to that question forms the basis of this rule. When you first sit down at a tournament you don't have a good feel for exactly how valuable your chips are. I threw one or two $500 chips in this pot without realizing that they were the big guns at the table. In addition, you haven't gotten a feel yet for how much hands cost you. Every table develops its own sort of rhythm and after you've been there you know that people generally will see the flop for 50, for example, and you know that someone betting 500 pre-flop isn't worth it. You also don't have any read on your opponent at this point. I had played with these guys once before - three months ago - so I really had no idea if he was someone who only threw money in with monster hands or if he liked to bet everything so aggressively. By the end of the night, I would have known to stay away from this particular player throwing $500 chips in a pot when I only had a gutshot draw.

Mon - April 25, 2005

Homegame - 4/22 - Part I

Some of my thoughts from a recent home poker tournament

Last Friday, I played in a home poker tournament with some friends of a friend. I had played with these guys once before, but that was about 3 months or so ago. That time, I lost in the first tournament - after re-buying - on a monumentally stupid hand (I got over-involved with pocket deuces, even though there were two other callers and raisers in the pot). I did, however, manage to win a side tournament that the losers started for a smaller buy-in, so I won back all of my money except $5.

All of them are pretty good poker players - you can tell from the way they bet and how often bluffs come into play. Beginners often don't understand pot odds, and are willing to throw in mounds of chips to win a very small pot. Most of the time, its not worth calling someone over a small pot, unless you know they are bluffing and can beat them. The second part of that sentence is key and one that inexperienced players often don't understand. Inexperienced players develop a sort of "bluff paranoia" and become convinced that someone is trying to bluff them out of a hand, which then leads them to play cop and call to a showdown to make sure the person was bluffing. The problem with this is that you need a hand that can still beat their bluff, and they might be on a fairly decent draw.

The best thing to do in a game like this is never bluff. They will call you no matter what you have and no matter how many chips you put in. So get a decent hand, put them all in, and stack the chips you've just taken from them. A good example of this was a game I hosted at my house a few months back. I had a lot of friends who had never played Hold'em, or even poker, and were very aggressive. I had set the blinds structure to make the tournament last about 4-5 hours, and it ended up finishing in about an hour. People were throwing in several hundred dollar bets when the blinds were only 5-10. So I sat around and waited for hands that were good, and then bet them aggressively and I was rewarded with the win.

Due to this aggression of inexperienced players, you can tell, in general, how good the players are at a table by how often bluffing actually works. It sounds counterintuitive to say that better players end up getting bluffed more than beginners, but its true. This is due to the fact that a more experienced player will let a $50 pot go, rather than call a $500 raise and hope his read is good - better to be bluffed out of a small pot than lose a large pot with a marginal hand because you misread someone.

Anyway, this group of guys I played with on Friday are pretty good. Mostly they play pretty tight, but they also mix up their game enough that they can be unpredictable. Since I don't consider myself any amazing poker player, this is a really good group of guys with which to play. They are all good enough that I'll get smacked around when I'm playing stupid (and I have against them), but they are not so good that its impossible for me to play well. It also gives me a good chance to learn more, and I've come up with a few rules for myself

In Part II, I'll delve into those rules and analyze what I think I did right and wrong.

Summary:
2 rounds , $20 buy-in for each = ($40)
Round 1 - First one out, no prize
Round 2 - First place, $100
Night's Total: + $60
Total this year: + $115

New category - Poker

Poker is a new hobby of mine - one that I'm really enjoying. I thought I'd share some thoughts

For the past year or two, I've become addicted to watching poker on TV. I can't get enough of the World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker, Celebrity Poker Showdown - I'll even watch Hollywood Hold 'Em on E (which is a stretch even for me). I've also been reading some poker books and brushing up on my poker game and now I've played in a few tournaments. Nothing major, just some home games - one of which I hosted. After the last one - just this last Friday night - I thought it might be cool to blog on poker from time to time, so I thought I'd open up a new category on the blog.

These posts might seem a little too "shop talk" for some - poker has a lingo entirely its own - so if poker isn't your thing, feel free to skip on by. Mainly, I think I'd like to post on it just to keep a record of my thoughts as I learn more about poker and to store it up later, so I don't have to relearn any harder lessons. Lastly, as poker grows in popularity, I figure I'll probably have more than a few google hits for this, and perhaps I can introduce some of those people to the rest of this blog.

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