Played some 1/2 at the Golden Nugget last night. Not too eventful but I did have a couple things to share. Couple hands that were interesting.
In one hand, I check the big blind with A8. About 5 players in. Flop is 8-5-2 with 2 diamonds. I check, 2 more checks. This older guy that I had played a few pots against (and seemed to be betting a lot - granted over a very small sample size) bet out $12. Last guy folds, and I check raise to $40. I figure my hand is decent now especially since nobody raised preflop, and I can drive out the draws. Folds to him and he calls. Not the best situation.
Turn is an offsuit 10. I think about betting, but I just check. I figure I can get the information I need by seeing what he does. He likely won't semi bluff diamonds again (if that's what he did in the first place) because he just got check raised. And I doubt he will bet a worse pair.
He bets out $40. He has about $130 behind. I think about just shoving all in. I thought for quite a while, but just folded. I figure the worst hand he has is a flush draw which still has decent equity against me, and everything else has me crushed. Sets, weird 2 pair, small overpair, maybe even something like JTdd that hit the ten. Anyway, I fold.
Soon after I switched tables to a table that had way more money on it. He got up from his table and came over to tell me that he had 82cc. Called for the flush draw preflop and flopped two pair. Good fold!
Only other interesting hand was this one. Short stacked old guy (had around $50-60) raised in late position to $12. Button (also somewhat short, started with $100 and won a couple pots) calls $12. It's on me in the small blind and I have 9-9.
Calling... could be alright I guess. Pretty vulnerable hand and I'm obviously not getting the right odds to set mine. Folding - I guess it's not the worst overall. Raising? Eventually I made it $50. Enough to hopefully isolate to just the old guy.
Now a guy that limped in early position is counting out chips and is obviously pained. He has about $175. Thinks forever and folds. (Later says he had me beat preflop.) Old guy folds. Now the button goes all in.
Weird, calls $12 on the button, I make it $50, he goes all in. I knew he was short and insta-called. However, my mistake was not thinking about it more and getting a count. The total was more than I expected. I thought it would be another $50 or maybe a little more, but it was $92 more. I think that even if I thought about it I would have to call. $92 to win about $300 (50+50+12+maybe 4 + 92 + my 92). As it turns out, the guy had Q-Q? WTF? Just calls $12 on the button with Q-Q and I guess it makes sense, once I raise huge there isn't much else for him to do. Even if I thought about it longer I think I would have talked myself into calling. But I definitely should have spent a little more time thinking about it.
Here was a great breakthrough though. After that hand, I was fine. A little annoyed but OK. But I could feel my face getting hot which is how I get when I start going on tilt. I totally recognized it and started breathing deep, and just talking through with myself why I'm feeling frustrated and that it's OK, I think I played it alright, and so on. Not as structured as The Mental Game of Poker suggests (I need to have their strategy as a quick reference) but it was really good. Totally a hand that can tilt you, I recognize it's happening, and immediately squash those feelings - more or less. I thought that was a really great moment for me and shows that I'm making progress.
After the session I thought about it and thought about some of the metrics I'm tracking. How did I play? Overall, pretty good. The first fold above was good and I really thought it through. The 99 hand was kind of a weird setup and I think I played it fine. I should have thought through the call more, but I did run into the top of his range and I would call again even if I had way more time to think about it. I played great preflop even after I was losing. And mentally I held it together and I think I actually made some good forward progress. So it was a great session for me.
Ended up losing $200, but that's OK. Still a well played session, and I'm looking forward to the next one. Maybe tonight.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Binion's Weekly Deepstack
Binion's has a tournament every Saturday that is fantastic. $10,000 guaranteed prize pool. Literally the worst players you'll find anywhere. And a great structure. You start with 20k in chips, rounds are 30 minutes (maybe 20 minutes each for the first hour, I don't remember), it's a really awesome structure. Only problem is that antes start way too late, but overall it's pretty damn good.
Played it yesterday. And there was a freaking OVERLAY!!! So sick! With entries and re-entries, they got up to 69 entries. That doesn't cover the $10k guarantee even ignoring rake. So they added over $1000 to make the guarantee. That's amazing.
People at the tables I was playing at were awful. The vast majority of the field are 50-60 year old men that are just weak tight. Then there are the younger guys, but nobody is good. They just say words like "ranges" and talk about playing well but you can tell they are just evolving into the future 50-60 year old weak tight average Binion's player.
Few hands I played:
At the 50/100 level, I'm in the small blind. Just lost blind vs blind to this 55 year old guy I see up there all the time. He raises the button to 300. I reraise with AJ to 850. He calls. Flop 982 rainbow. We both check. Turn 8, I bet 700, he calls. River 4, check check. He has AQ and wins. Overall this hand was pretty bad. If I want to call the raise I think that's OK, but my reraise is terrible. First off, this guy is probably never raising light. And if he was, 850 isn't enough to get him to fold. So I probably should make it like 1300 or call. And folding would be 100% fine.
I'm treading water for hours and my table breaks. I have right around the starting 20k in chips. First hand at the new table (right behind the button) I have K9ss and min raise to 1200 (300/600 blinds). The big blind calls. Flop comes KhQsJs. Whoa, sick flop. He checks to me and I bet 2000. He check raises to 7000. Fuck it, I'm all in. He calls. MONSTER pot. He has JTo for a smaller pair and worse draw. He doesn't get there and I win a MASSIVE pot! Yes!
Little later, a guy in early position min raises to 1200. I have AhKh. I just call. I would normally raise but the blinds were getting pretty short. I figured I might get one of them to go crazy and I have a big hand, so I could trap the original raiser in the middle too. So I call, and sure enough the small blind (same guy from the K9s vs JT hand) goes all in for about 13k. The original raiser calls. I go all in and the original raiser calls (just a tiny bit more). The original raiser has Ad8d, and the small blind has Td9d. Sick spot! Of course, I go from first to worst when the 10 hits the flop and 8 hits the river. So I'm back down to about 24k. Not terrible shape but definitely heartbreaking. I would have been by far the biggest chip stack at my table.
I'm down to 18600 at the 500/1000/100 level. I min-raise the button with QcJc. Both blinds call. Flop is ten high with 1 of my suit. Checks to me and I check. Turn is an offsuit 9, so I'm open ended. Big blind bets out 2600, I call. River is a queen. He checks. I bet a white 5000 chip. He calls with Q9o. :P Same fucking guy as the T9s/AKs hand again. He basically had 2 outs to get any more money out of me, and he hit it. Sigh.
Down to 6900 chips so I'm in critical condition. Time to bust out the sick pro moves. Haha. I'm in the big blind (which is a HUGE percentage of my stack) and the button min raises. I have Tc4c. I think, this may be a good time for the old stop-n-go play. :) So I call. Flop comes J-3-3 with 1 club and I shove the remaining 4200 or so. He thinks for a long time and folds. Ship it!
A hand or two later, that same guy raises. I look down - KK! I push it in. He says "You know that works every time but once". Then another guy across the table says "Is that advice for him or you?" and he calls. He has KQ so I'm in AWESOME shape, and I double through. Comeback!!! Back up to 20k.
A few people (including a guy under the gun or UTG+1) limp. I'm on the button with AQ and shove. UTG guy calls - JJ. I don't hit. Damn it, can't catch a break today. Back down to 6000.
Blinds are up to 800/1600/200 and I have 6500. Everyone folds to me in the hijack, I shove T3o, everyone folds. Yes. Couple hands later, look down at AK. Shove 9600. Big blind looks down at AA. Flop has an ace on it, that's all she wrote.
I feel like I played pretty well. It just wasn't my day. I battled back and took some tough beats, was still in contention, but you can only live through so many of those. Either way it was an awesome tournament and I'll be back soon.
My wife ended up getting 16th (it paid 7 spots) so she did really well too. We both agreed that this tournament was SO soft, we have to try to make an effort to play it as much as we can. Easy money.
Played it yesterday. And there was a freaking OVERLAY!!! So sick! With entries and re-entries, they got up to 69 entries. That doesn't cover the $10k guarantee even ignoring rake. So they added over $1000 to make the guarantee. That's amazing.
People at the tables I was playing at were awful. The vast majority of the field are 50-60 year old men that are just weak tight. Then there are the younger guys, but nobody is good. They just say words like "ranges" and talk about playing well but you can tell they are just evolving into the future 50-60 year old weak tight average Binion's player.
Few hands I played:
At the 50/100 level, I'm in the small blind. Just lost blind vs blind to this 55 year old guy I see up there all the time. He raises the button to 300. I reraise with AJ to 850. He calls. Flop 982 rainbow. We both check. Turn 8, I bet 700, he calls. River 4, check check. He has AQ and wins. Overall this hand was pretty bad. If I want to call the raise I think that's OK, but my reraise is terrible. First off, this guy is probably never raising light. And if he was, 850 isn't enough to get him to fold. So I probably should make it like 1300 or call. And folding would be 100% fine.
I'm treading water for hours and my table breaks. I have right around the starting 20k in chips. First hand at the new table (right behind the button) I have K9ss and min raise to 1200 (300/600 blinds). The big blind calls. Flop comes KhQsJs. Whoa, sick flop. He checks to me and I bet 2000. He check raises to 7000. Fuck it, I'm all in. He calls. MONSTER pot. He has JTo for a smaller pair and worse draw. He doesn't get there and I win a MASSIVE pot! Yes!
Little later, a guy in early position min raises to 1200. I have AhKh. I just call. I would normally raise but the blinds were getting pretty short. I figured I might get one of them to go crazy and I have a big hand, so I could trap the original raiser in the middle too. So I call, and sure enough the small blind (same guy from the K9s vs JT hand) goes all in for about 13k. The original raiser calls. I go all in and the original raiser calls (just a tiny bit more). The original raiser has Ad8d, and the small blind has Td9d. Sick spot! Of course, I go from first to worst when the 10 hits the flop and 8 hits the river. So I'm back down to about 24k. Not terrible shape but definitely heartbreaking. I would have been by far the biggest chip stack at my table.
I'm down to 18600 at the 500/1000/100 level. I min-raise the button with QcJc. Both blinds call. Flop is ten high with 1 of my suit. Checks to me and I check. Turn is an offsuit 9, so I'm open ended. Big blind bets out 2600, I call. River is a queen. He checks. I bet a white 5000 chip. He calls with Q9o. :P Same fucking guy as the T9s/AKs hand again. He basically had 2 outs to get any more money out of me, and he hit it. Sigh.
Down to 6900 chips so I'm in critical condition. Time to bust out the sick pro moves. Haha. I'm in the big blind (which is a HUGE percentage of my stack) and the button min raises. I have Tc4c. I think, this may be a good time for the old stop-n-go play. :) So I call. Flop comes J-3-3 with 1 club and I shove the remaining 4200 or so. He thinks for a long time and folds. Ship it!
A hand or two later, that same guy raises. I look down - KK! I push it in. He says "You know that works every time but once". Then another guy across the table says "Is that advice for him or you?" and he calls. He has KQ so I'm in AWESOME shape, and I double through. Comeback!!! Back up to 20k.
A few people (including a guy under the gun or UTG+1) limp. I'm on the button with AQ and shove. UTG guy calls - JJ. I don't hit. Damn it, can't catch a break today. Back down to 6000.
Blinds are up to 800/1600/200 and I have 6500. Everyone folds to me in the hijack, I shove T3o, everyone folds. Yes. Couple hands later, look down at AK. Shove 9600. Big blind looks down at AA. Flop has an ace on it, that's all she wrote.
I feel like I played pretty well. It just wasn't my day. I battled back and took some tough beats, was still in contention, but you can only live through so many of those. Either way it was an awesome tournament and I'll be back soon.
My wife ended up getting 16th (it paid 7 spots) so she did really well too. We both agreed that this tournament was SO soft, we have to try to make an effort to play it as much as we can. Easy money.
Friday, July 25, 2014
The Nug
I played the last couple nights at the Golden Nugget. Short sessions. I had some other stuff to do (just hanging out with my wife) but I wanted to get some poker in.
I had my warmup and cooldown routines in place and I executed on those. I also set goals for the sessions. My goals were as follows:
- Count the pot before acting after the flop.
- Make consistent physical movements.
- Take breaks.
- Play solid preflop.
- Pay attention to one player during each hand when out of the hand.
- Don't factor in physical tells information to decisions.
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| Golden Nugget |
I scheduled breaks each time and followed through, although they were short sessions anyway. Once I sat down, I set a timer on my phone for 2 hours. That's what was recommended when I went through the WPT Boot Camp as well.
I had some trouble executing on my goals, as simple as they seemed. In the second session especially I had a really hard time focusing when I was out of the pot. It may have been because I didn't eat dinner and just went straight there after work.
I did better with the physical movements stuff, but definitely not perfect. I decided that I would try to always have my arms folded, check my moving my right arm, and when I bet I would fully extend my right arm and put the chips in a single stack. I don't really have multiple arm bets worked out yet. And when the pot was exciting or big, it was hard for me to think about this. But that's why I have to practice - so eventually it becomes second nature and I do it every time.
Preflop I played pretty solid, but there were some hiccups. The first day I was playing fine and was down 50 or 80 bucks. I definitely got a little looser. Honestly it was 1 or 2 calls, but I need to strive to play perfectly. For example, really early in the session I folded 44 under the gun. It's debatable but I personally think it's a good move overall. Later in the session when I was losing a bit, I limped with 33 under the gun. Then it got raised huge out of the big blind (to $27) and I called. Another guy called before me, and the guy had a little less than $300, so I thought it was somewhat OK, but not ideal. Overall I think it would have been better to stay out of that situation. I also called a raise with a suited connector in a situation where if it was earlier in the day, I would have folded.
Counting the pot was sketchy, I would forget to do it. Especially in the session where I was less focused. I paid way more attention to players than I have in the past, but it wasn't 100%. I'm improving though.
I felt like mentally I was holding it together pretty well. I could tell I was getting hot and a little frustrated on the first day for a while, but at least I noticed it.
I played one interesting hand over the 2 days and I think I played it pretty well. Bunch of people limp and I'm on the button with KQo. I raise to 15. I get 4 callers. So the pot is HUGE for a 1/2 game at this point, $75.
Flop comes pretty good - Kh6c3c. Top pair but some draws out there. Checks to me and I bet $60. I get 2 calls. One guy is pretty short (maybe $80-$100) but the other guy has a decent amount of money - maybe $350 more. I have everyone covered.
Turn is an offsuit 2. They both check to me. I thought about it for a while and checked. The straight got there, but my main concern is that I was against two people. If I was against one I think I would have bet. I also didn't have a hand where I was going to get two big bets in, probably just one. So I could wait till the river and see what happens. Dangerous to do that because of the flush draw, but that's what I did.
River is another offsuit 2, and both people check to me again. I think my hand is best at this point. Pot is $75 + $180 = $255. Well, $250 after rake. I thought about it for a while and bet $150. Old guy with a ton of money calls pretty quickly. I flip up the KQ. He turns over KcTc for top pair with the flush draw and I win a pretty big pot.
Yesterday I had a hand that I messed up a bit. Guy who is playing relatively tight raises in early position to $7. I'm on the button with AK. I just call. Thought about reraising, but then again, why? This guy is playing tight. AK is pretty good against his range regardless, but reraising also makes my range way narrower. So I'm going to get a lot of his worse hands to fold. Probably better to play a pot in position with a great hand. So I actually like the call. If I had been super active recently then I think a reraise would be better.
Flop is Axx with a flush draw. I don't remember the other two cards but they were low and not connected. He bets out $15. I just call. Again, could raise here, debatable. I don't hate the call.
Turn is another ace. He bets out $20. He has around $100 or so left, maybe $120. I raise to $60.
He folded. However, I think my mistake here was that I didn't just go all in. A raise is going to get him to fold pretty much anything. Actually if he has a flush draw, he might fold but he's getting about the right odds to call, and with the implied odds its a insta call. And with an ace, there is no way he is ever folding. So I think the right play there would have been to go all in. With an ace he's calling either way, and with a flush draw he has to fold. So that was the mistake in that hand IMO. Preflop and on the flop are debatable but I like my reasoning for playing them that way.
I won about $250 the first day, $50 the next day. Not a bad start when getting back into some serious poker play. I was pretty happy with how I played overall too. Not great, and I need to improve my concentration when I'm not in the hand especially. But I did play pretty solid and didn't do anything too stupid. I'm looking forward to the next session!
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Aria tournament recap
Played the 7 PM tournament last night. First time I got to use some of the mental game strategies I've read about. We got there kinda late because our cab never showed up and I had to run down to Fremont to get a cab. Grabbed a slice from Five50 and we were ready to play. Before I sat down at my table I went over my pre-game warmup routine. It's pretty useful to read over your weaknesses before you sit down.
One thing about last night is that I was super drunk. It's Friday, just got off work and I wanted to have some fun. I added a "How Drunk" column on my spreadsheet and started out putting it at 4 out of 10, and at the end of the night I ranked myself at 9 out of 10. Crown + diets and Fireball shots all night. It's a long night too so you can really put back some drinks. Obviously not ideal and I'll work to get that out of my game and play sober more often.
There were 78 entries when all was said and done. A little smaller than the tournaments we have beeen playing lately. There were a couple interesting hands, I don't remember the details of all of them. I'll write down what I remember here.
I played pretty cautious early and I really was trying to pay close attention. I also was trying to limit my variance somewhat. Couple examples : a guy that was playing a lot of hands (but mostly limping) made it 500 at 50/100. I just called on the button with AK. Could reraise for sure but it was a huge raise and also he was mostly limping so I knew he had something. Flop came all rags and he went all in for like 2200 - I didn't know he was that short, but I was happy to fold. Another hand at that level, a bunch of people limp and I call in the small blind with 99. I definitely considered raising but I'm out of position with a hand that plays great multiway so I just call. Big blind raises it huge, to 800. Everyone folds to me and I just fold. Too much to set mine and I'm not going to go crazy with 99. Plus the guy is the typical guy playing tight and wearing headphones, he's not going to dump his stack to me if I hit necessarily.
I like min raising and use that pretty much all the time. People still fold once the blinds get big enough. That's something I picked up from my wife - she used to do it all the time and I told her it was dumb because that was the common poker knowledge of the time, but she was right and years later everyone else started raising really small or min raising all the time.
At the 300/600/50 level I'm getting short - 7675 stack. Folds to me on the button and I min-raise with J6s. Blinds fold and they say "show us the bluff!". Haha. Later that level I min-raise with AT and the button calls. Flop KTx and we both check. Turn is a blank, I check again, he bets 1600 and I call. River blank, we both check, the ten wins. Old lady with headphones and sunglasses next to me says "gutsy call". Haha. I don't know about all that but I was happy to win the pot.
I was trying to avoid spots where I knew I'd have to win the pot and I felt like there was no fold equity. I have 11225 at the 300/600/50 level and a guy raises to 2000. I look down at 77. I thought about it for a while but just folded. I just didn't think this guy was folding, he had a lot of chips and sometimes you can just tell that some guy is going to call you, so I figured I'd save my chips for another spot.
Sickest hand - blind vs blind I raise out of the small blind with A9o. Big blind calls. Flop was K24. I check, I think he bet something small and I call. Turn is a 2. We both check. River is another king, so the board is K242K. I check. Now he goes all in for a lot, and he has me covered.
I thought about it forever - would he do this with a 4? No. Does he have a king? I just didn't feel like he did. The bet seemed super weird and he knew he was putting me all in. Anyway I thought forever and called. If I lose I'm out and I'm calling with ace high. He is just like, damn it and turns up the T7o. YES!!!! I flip up the A9 and rub it all over the table. I'm celebrating like crazy. I even remember picking up some of the chips and rubbing them on my chest. lmao. I was drunk and obviously that's not the coolest reaction, but whatever. It was a huge pot and I doubled through with literally nothing, and if I was wrong I was out. But I was fucking right. It was amazing. I was texting like crazy and writing notes and so happy. He's like "are you posting about that on Facebook" and I said "no, but I should!!!!" It was amazing.
Not much else happened. I hung in there the best I could. With 11 people left I called an all in from the big blind with KJ, the small blind pushed with A9 and I won. I wouldn't have been eliminated but I would have been super short if I lost. Then we were at the final table.
Last hand was pretty standard but I actually thought about whether to play it or not. A guy raised in early position and another guy called. I had 99 and only had about 6 big blinds. I knew if I went all in I was getting called by at least one of them. I honestly thought about folding because I knew I was going to have to win at showdown and that's not a good spot to be in. Much better to have some chance to win without showing down. But I just decided it was ridiculous to fold 99 with 6 big blinds. I was one of the shortest stacks and we still had to eliminate a few people before the money too. So I go all in and they both call. One had AQ, the other had KJs. KJs makes top two pair and I'm out of the tournament.
Overall I was really happy with the tournament. It was fun and I had another really deep run. No money but considering that I didn't have a ton of huge hands, I really hung in there a long time. Until next time! I'm going to win one of those soon.
I'll also include the raw notes from my session below in case anyone's interested. This is what I wrote down into Evernote while I was playing.
25/50 warmed up sat down at 708
AQ 450 from bb win 4 limps maybe 3
AT in co folded to older lady WSOP chip obv tight headphones 175
Folded ats in the sb after tight looking player made it 150 ep
50/100
Ak guy makes it 500 I call on button miss shove for 2200 fold
99 bunch of limps call sb 800 everyone folds I fold he is right looking guy headphones
AQ 400 button 2 calls T8x c J 800 c river blank lose KT
100/200 7800
JJ 500 early win
44 limp K84 heart draw 600 fold 4 way
8700 break
100/200/25
7675 200/400/25
ATs mp 800 bb c JTx c 1000 fold 8850
7275 300/600/50
J6s button min raise win show us the bluff
AT min raise button calls KTx c c turn blank c 1600 c river z check win - old lady says gutsy. All
AQ 1600 early bb call Jxx c c turn J 1600 fold
11225
77 guy makes if 2000 I think he's not dolding look at 77 tank fold
8725 400/800/75
KK guy raises I go all in fold :(
Couple peoplimp shove with 88 won
14k
KJs all in win 15725
23k 600:1200/100
800/1600/200
K2x2K I calm with a high on the river and I win I was out if I lost FUCK UEAR A9o I raised pre b v b he had T7o no pair no draw
36k avg is 30k
AQ win another pot KQ flop bet flop 4k same ore
43700
AQ guy raises I go all in he shows AJ I show AQ
51000
AJ 4k 12500 fold
1000/2000/300
KQ 4k mid guy shoves for like 35k gold
JTo 4k
Guy limps utg I limp T9s I think that's a bad play 4 way AJ8 one of my suit 2 checks 5500 win
1500/3000/400 41800
2000/4000/500
All in button 22000 T7o win
KJ call all in he has A9 win K on turn
47k rack em up on the button FT
99 KJss AQ
One thing about last night is that I was super drunk. It's Friday, just got off work and I wanted to have some fun. I added a "How Drunk" column on my spreadsheet and started out putting it at 4 out of 10, and at the end of the night I ranked myself at 9 out of 10. Crown + diets and Fireball shots all night. It's a long night too so you can really put back some drinks. Obviously not ideal and I'll work to get that out of my game and play sober more often.
There were 78 entries when all was said and done. A little smaller than the tournaments we have beeen playing lately. There were a couple interesting hands, I don't remember the details of all of them. I'll write down what I remember here.
I played pretty cautious early and I really was trying to pay close attention. I also was trying to limit my variance somewhat. Couple examples : a guy that was playing a lot of hands (but mostly limping) made it 500 at 50/100. I just called on the button with AK. Could reraise for sure but it was a huge raise and also he was mostly limping so I knew he had something. Flop came all rags and he went all in for like 2200 - I didn't know he was that short, but I was happy to fold. Another hand at that level, a bunch of people limp and I call in the small blind with 99. I definitely considered raising but I'm out of position with a hand that plays great multiway so I just call. Big blind raises it huge, to 800. Everyone folds to me and I just fold. Too much to set mine and I'm not going to go crazy with 99. Plus the guy is the typical guy playing tight and wearing headphones, he's not going to dump his stack to me if I hit necessarily.
I like min raising and use that pretty much all the time. People still fold once the blinds get big enough. That's something I picked up from my wife - she used to do it all the time and I told her it was dumb because that was the common poker knowledge of the time, but she was right and years later everyone else started raising really small or min raising all the time.
At the 300/600/50 level I'm getting short - 7675 stack. Folds to me on the button and I min-raise with J6s. Blinds fold and they say "show us the bluff!". Haha. Later that level I min-raise with AT and the button calls. Flop KTx and we both check. Turn is a blank, I check again, he bets 1600 and I call. River blank, we both check, the ten wins. Old lady with headphones and sunglasses next to me says "gutsy call". Haha. I don't know about all that but I was happy to win the pot.
I was trying to avoid spots where I knew I'd have to win the pot and I felt like there was no fold equity. I have 11225 at the 300/600/50 level and a guy raises to 2000. I look down at 77. I thought about it for a while but just folded. I just didn't think this guy was folding, he had a lot of chips and sometimes you can just tell that some guy is going to call you, so I figured I'd save my chips for another spot.
Sickest hand - blind vs blind I raise out of the small blind with A9o. Big blind calls. Flop was K24. I check, I think he bet something small and I call. Turn is a 2. We both check. River is another king, so the board is K242K. I check. Now he goes all in for a lot, and he has me covered.
I thought about it forever - would he do this with a 4? No. Does he have a king? I just didn't feel like he did. The bet seemed super weird and he knew he was putting me all in. Anyway I thought forever and called. If I lose I'm out and I'm calling with ace high. He is just like, damn it and turns up the T7o. YES!!!! I flip up the A9 and rub it all over the table. I'm celebrating like crazy. I even remember picking up some of the chips and rubbing them on my chest. lmao. I was drunk and obviously that's not the coolest reaction, but whatever. It was a huge pot and I doubled through with literally nothing, and if I was wrong I was out. But I was fucking right. It was amazing. I was texting like crazy and writing notes and so happy. He's like "are you posting about that on Facebook" and I said "no, but I should!!!!" It was amazing.
Not much else happened. I hung in there the best I could. With 11 people left I called an all in from the big blind with KJ, the small blind pushed with A9 and I won. I wouldn't have been eliminated but I would have been super short if I lost. Then we were at the final table.
Last hand was pretty standard but I actually thought about whether to play it or not. A guy raised in early position and another guy called. I had 99 and only had about 6 big blinds. I knew if I went all in I was getting called by at least one of them. I honestly thought about folding because I knew I was going to have to win at showdown and that's not a good spot to be in. Much better to have some chance to win without showing down. But I just decided it was ridiculous to fold 99 with 6 big blinds. I was one of the shortest stacks and we still had to eliminate a few people before the money too. So I go all in and they both call. One had AQ, the other had KJs. KJs makes top two pair and I'm out of the tournament.
Overall I was really happy with the tournament. It was fun and I had another really deep run. No money but considering that I didn't have a ton of huge hands, I really hung in there a long time. Until next time! I'm going to win one of those soon.
I'll also include the raw notes from my session below in case anyone's interested. This is what I wrote down into Evernote while I was playing.
25/50 warmed up sat down at 708
AQ 450 from bb win 4 limps maybe 3
AT in co folded to older lady WSOP chip obv tight headphones 175
Folded ats in the sb after tight looking player made it 150 ep
50/100
Ak guy makes it 500 I call on button miss shove for 2200 fold
99 bunch of limps call sb 800 everyone folds I fold he is right looking guy headphones
AQ 400 button 2 calls T8x c J 800 c river blank lose KT
100/200 7800
JJ 500 early win
44 limp K84 heart draw 600 fold 4 way
8700 break
100/200/25
7675 200/400/25
ATs mp 800 bb c JTx c 1000 fold 8850
7275 300/600/50
J6s button min raise win show us the bluff
AT min raise button calls KTx c c turn blank c 1600 c river z check win - old lady says gutsy. All
AQ 1600 early bb call Jxx c c turn J 1600 fold
11225
77 guy makes if 2000 I think he's not dolding look at 77 tank fold
8725 400/800/75
KK guy raises I go all in fold :(
Couple peoplimp shove with 88 won
14k
KJs all in win 15725
23k 600:1200/100
800/1600/200
K2x2K I calm with a high on the river and I win I was out if I lost FUCK UEAR A9o I raised pre b v b he had T7o no pair no draw
36k avg is 30k
AQ win another pot KQ flop bet flop 4k same ore
43700
AQ guy raises I go all in he shows AJ I show AQ
51000
AJ 4k 12500 fold
1000/2000/300
KQ 4k mid guy shoves for like 35k gold
JTo 4k
Guy limps utg I limp T9s I think that's a bad play 4 way AJ8 one of my suit 2 checks 5500 win
1500/3000/400 41800
2000/4000/500
All in button 22000 T7o win
KJ call all in he has A9 win K on turn
47k rack em up on the button FT
99 KJss AQ
Friday, July 18, 2014
Poker school is in
Quick last night update - I didn't play last night. My wife wanted to hang out instead. Works for me. I'm going to try to treat this as a marathon instead of a sprint. Even a marathon is a bad analogy because that's like 4 hours. :P But you get it, I am thinking super long term at this point. I am planning on playing the nightly Aria $125 tournament tonight. Tomorrow night we're going out with friends but maybe I can get up early and squeeze a couple hours of cash in. It's all about making progress and getting hours in when I can.
Back to learning.
Combinatorics. I think this is the first big poker thing that I'm going to focus on. I know it's out there and when I started reading The Poker Blueprint again, it was one of the first topics he covers. I have tried to apply this in the past, but it's typically after the fact. It takes me FOREVER and it's super difficult for me.
Combinatorics is basically the combinations of hands that are possible. So for example, let's say you flop bottom set. The board is 8h 5s 2c. You think the other guy is going all in with 76s, 43s, and bigger sets. One way to look at it is "I beat 2 hands and am beaten by 2 hands" but that is not accurate because there are multiple combinations of each of those hands. There are 4 combinations of 76s, 4 combinations of 43s, 3 combinations of 88, and 3 combinations of 55. So you actually currently are beating 8 possible hands, and losing to 6 possible hands. Of course this is not a good situation for you because the hands you are "beating" will draw out a large percentage of the time too. And there is no way to say you should call/fold/raise based on the information above because there's no stack size, pot size, etc information to go on. But knowing the combinations is an important first step in understanding what you should do.
I would like to get to a point where I fully understand this topic and I can apply it reasonably well at the poker table. I think the most obvious point where you can apply this is on the river when you are facing a bet. You have something like AA on the river and you think a guy will only be betting sets, straights, and busted flush draws. It's a solvable problem based on the bet size and pot size whether you should call or not if you think he has those hands. But can I arrive at a good answer for that question today? No.
As far as The Mental Game of Poker's inchworm model, this is the first thing I'm going to try to do to stretch the front of the inchworm. I have plenty of weaknesses I can think about when I'm playing as well to move the back half. But this is a very concrete and important skill that I can pick up and learn.
What I'm doing today at lunch is writing down a bunch of problems (I'll post them below). These are things that I think I should know or should be able to figure out given some time. Ideally what I'd REALLY like to do is write a program that auto-generates scenarios and asks you to solve them. That would be the holy grail of being able to figure this out. Ideally I would be able to take a reasonably complex problem and solve it within 1 minute (including pot odds). That should be enough time in a live poker environment to be able to think about it and make the right decision.
I'm going to continue on that effort (writing down problems to solve) over the next 20 minutes or so and I'll post them here.
I think this is a good start (below). I'll start here and continue reading that section of the book. I anticipate it will take me a long time to get good at this - at least a month, but we'll see. Maybe less if I'm working on it a lot.
Back to learning.
Combinatorics. I think this is the first big poker thing that I'm going to focus on. I know it's out there and when I started reading The Poker Blueprint again, it was one of the first topics he covers. I have tried to apply this in the past, but it's typically after the fact. It takes me FOREVER and it's super difficult for me.
Combinatorics is basically the combinations of hands that are possible. So for example, let's say you flop bottom set. The board is 8h 5s 2c. You think the other guy is going all in with 76s, 43s, and bigger sets. One way to look at it is "I beat 2 hands and am beaten by 2 hands" but that is not accurate because there are multiple combinations of each of those hands. There are 4 combinations of 76s, 4 combinations of 43s, 3 combinations of 88, and 3 combinations of 55. So you actually currently are beating 8 possible hands, and losing to 6 possible hands. Of course this is not a good situation for you because the hands you are "beating" will draw out a large percentage of the time too. And there is no way to say you should call/fold/raise based on the information above because there's no stack size, pot size, etc information to go on. But knowing the combinations is an important first step in understanding what you should do.
I would like to get to a point where I fully understand this topic and I can apply it reasonably well at the poker table. I think the most obvious point where you can apply this is on the river when you are facing a bet. You have something like AA on the river and you think a guy will only be betting sets, straights, and busted flush draws. It's a solvable problem based on the bet size and pot size whether you should call or not if you think he has those hands. But can I arrive at a good answer for that question today? No.
As far as The Mental Game of Poker's inchworm model, this is the first thing I'm going to try to do to stretch the front of the inchworm. I have plenty of weaknesses I can think about when I'm playing as well to move the back half. But this is a very concrete and important skill that I can pick up and learn.
What I'm doing today at lunch is writing down a bunch of problems (I'll post them below). These are things that I think I should know or should be able to figure out given some time. Ideally what I'd REALLY like to do is write a program that auto-generates scenarios and asks you to solve them. That would be the holy grail of being able to figure this out. Ideally I would be able to take a reasonably complex problem and solve it within 1 minute (including pot odds). That should be enough time in a live poker environment to be able to think about it and make the right decision.
I'm going to continue on that effort (writing down problems to solve) over the next 20 minutes or so and I'll post them here.
I think this is a good start (below). I'll start here and continue reading that section of the book. I anticipate it will take me a long time to get good at this - at least a month, but we'll see. Maybe less if I'm working on it a lot.
- How many combos are possible for:
- a pocket pair?
- an unpaired hand?
- an unpaired suited hand?
- a set?
- a flush draw with a suited connector on the flop, with various flops?
- TT+?
- JTs+?
- AQ+?
- AQs+?
- On a KhQh4s board, how many combos of AK are possible?
- On a KhQh4s board, how many combos of AK and KQ are possible?
- On a KhQh4s board, how many combos of AK are possible if I am holding AA?
- On a KhQh4s board, how many combos of AK are possible if I am holding AK?
- On a KhQh4s board, how many combos of AK and KQ are possible if I am holding KQ?
- On a 7h4sJc board, if I have AA and I think the other guy has open ended straight draws and sets, how many combos do I beat / lose to?
- On a 7h6h2s board, if I have AA and I think the other guy has open ended straight draws, flush draws with suited connectors and JTs+, and sets, how many combos do I beat / lose to?
- On a Kh7d2s board, if I think someone has AK, KK, 77, 22 and I have AA, how many combinations do I beat / lose to?
- On a Th4c2s board, if I think the guy has sets and overpairs, what combos am I ahead/behind against with KK?
- On the river the board is 7h4h2sJc8s. I have 88. I think the other guy is betting AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 77, 44, 65s, T9hh, and busted heart draws with all suited connectors and JThh+. I am not considering a raise (for whatever reason). I want to call if I have over 50% chance to win. Should I call?
- On the river the board is JcTc5s4s2d. I have TT. My opponent would bet all flopped sets, KQ, Q9s, 76s, QJ, JT, 54s, and missed flush draws (both clubs and spades). How many combos do I beat and lose to?
- On the flop the board is 9c8c2s. I have AcAd. My opponent goes all in for $100. The pot is $220 including his bet. His range is JTcc+, JT, 76, and sets. Should I call?
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Progress today
I want to very quickly just update on what I did today. At lunch I wrote down a warm up and cool down routine, basically just copied some ideas out of The Mental Game of Poker. I also created a tab on my spreadsheet to keep track of hours spent studying because I will likely want to create some time goals around that. I also read a little of this cash game book, started over and I'm reading it again.
Constant progress is what I need to be about this year. I'm going to try to play some cash later tonight too.
Constant progress is what I need to be about this year. I'm going to try to play some cash later tonight too.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Time to rebuild, poker starts again now
"We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster."
Over the last few months I haven't played much serious poker. A few tournaments, but every time I play I'm drunk and I haven't played very serious, or I think I'm playing serious but I'm playing poorly. No posts in a long time but that's why. I also haven't felt motivated to post to the blog at all. Got 14th out of 165 in the Aria Friday night tournament the other week (basically min cash), not much in results otherwise.
This last week someone I know, Billy Pappas (aka William Pappaconstinou or something, not sure of the exact spelling) made the final table of the WSOP Main Event. Billy plays a lot of poker lately and I feel like him and I are around the same skill level. Although I have nothing to base that on - I just know that he's playing 2/5 NL when he comes to Vegas and whatnot. I'm happy for him, but to be honest the situation makes me jealous. I'm rooting for him but as I work my 9 to 5 job, I can't help myself from being jealous that I'm not out there giving it a shot.
What have I done to put myself in that position, though? Nothing. I play some poker here and there, don't study at all, don't really put any effort into improving my game whatsoever. Sure, I'm trying when I'm at the table. But at this pace I'm going to turn into one of those guys that are 70 years old, still playing 1/2 NL, breaking even or losing. Talking about how "I used to play 5/10 NL" or "I won some tournament some time ago". I don't want to be that guy. I don't know if I honestly want to play poker professionally or not, but I know that I'm not giving myself the option either. I'm simply not improving and it makes sense - I'm not putting any effort into that.
I've lived in Vegas for 9 years. When I moved here I was trying to be a professional poker player. I had no job and I played a lot, and it seemed like it was working out for a short while. But I made mistakes then - didn't manage my money properly, didn't put a ton of effort into studying, and eventually it came crashing down. That happened after less than a year. What have I done in the last 8 years to improve the situation? Nothing. I've worked, I've played periodically, and I've studied the game the most minor amount. I'll buy a poker book, read the first 1/5 of it, and never finish it. I have a library of poker content that I haven't read, and what I've read I don't think I've put the effort in to really learn it.
After Billy made the final table it made me think, I need to start putting effort into this. I care about poker. I want to win. I want to be that guy. And I can! My wife supports the crazy dream I have. I wrote "stupid dream" originally but erased it. Is it stupid? No. Is it unrealistic? Today - yes. But if I put the effort in, maybe not. I need to at least start there and start putting the effort in to improve my game. I mean I have literally thrown away 8 years. If I don't start making incremental steps forward now, I'll be right where I am now in 8 years - playing low buy-in tournaments, playing 1/2 or 2/5 NL, complaining when I lose, dreaming of making the big time.
I know I've said this before countless times. I'm hoping that seeing Billy's success can really get me in gear though. I know in my heart that it can't happen overnight. But I think that I can start putting effort in, making some incremental changes, and eventually maybe I'll get there. Maybe I won't, too. But if I don't put in the effort, it's a guarantee that I'll never get there.
I started today by starting over on The Mental Game of Poker book. Another book I read 50% of or so, thought it was great, but took no real action on it. I started reading it and it had some questions it suggested writing down and really thinking about, so I did that. It also has the concept of "inchworm" where you think about the best and worst parts of your game, and you try to improve both ends. So I wrote down the perceived best and worst parts of my game today.
It was somewhat enlightening - I really didn't have much good to say about my game. I feel like there are some poker basics I still don't grasp or I just have a beginner's mentality in many ways. I'm going to post what I wrote down here, even though some of it is embarassing and stupid.
More posts to come after this too. I'm hoping I can spend time after work or at lunch (like I used to do when I started playing) learning the game and improving.
The Mental Game of Poker - first set of questions (page 18)
How much you knew the first time you played poker
Not much. I hadn’t played much as a kid or anything. Started playing some online just messing around and I literally knew nothing. I didn’t even know the rules of some games when I played at a dealer’s choice home game and I remember losing a huge Omaha pot because I didn’t understand Omaha, we played Chicago and I didn’t know if an ace was low or high, and so on.
The complexity of your thought process when making poker decisions now compared to when you first started really trying to improve
At least when I’m playing my “A” game, I am thinking about what other people might have and sometimes even what they think I have. I also consider things like if I call now, what will I do on a future street. I think about pot odds although I do ignore them sometimes. Overall I think that I consider others in the pot a lot more than what I used to. I also take others’ chip stacks into consideration a lot more than I used to when calling with a speculative hand, although I can ignore that as well depending on how I’m playing.
A mistake you recently discovered
I played an Aria tournament recently and got really deep and had a huge chip stack with about 12 left. I got all in pre flop against the biggest stack at the table. I had TT and he had raised it huge like 5x. I went all in. The decision itself wasn’t necessarily bad, but I didn’t consider how important my chips were at that point in the tournament and the fact that if I just let it go, I still had a great stack heading to the final table. Probably a ICM thing, I don’t really understand ICM or how to calculate it.
Decisions at the table that are made automatically
Folding really terrible hands especially out of position (assuming I’m not drunk)
Knowing what hands to play pre flop in which position (although I don’t always follow it)
Mistakes that don’t happen anymore
It’s actually hard for me to think of a bunch of mistakes I used to make that I don’t anymore. I think I am way more cautious about losing a MONSTER pot with a pretty weak top pair type of hand. I understand the hand rankings in any game I play (Omaha, etc) so I don’t think I am making mistakes related to that anymore.
Best and worst parts of my poker game today
Over the last few months I haven't played much serious poker. A few tournaments, but every time I play I'm drunk and I haven't played very serious, or I think I'm playing serious but I'm playing poorly. No posts in a long time but that's why. I also haven't felt motivated to post to the blog at all. Got 14th out of 165 in the Aria Friday night tournament the other week (basically min cash), not much in results otherwise.
This last week someone I know, Billy Pappas (aka William Pappaconstinou or something, not sure of the exact spelling) made the final table of the WSOP Main Event. Billy plays a lot of poker lately and I feel like him and I are around the same skill level. Although I have nothing to base that on - I just know that he's playing 2/5 NL when he comes to Vegas and whatnot. I'm happy for him, but to be honest the situation makes me jealous. I'm rooting for him but as I work my 9 to 5 job, I can't help myself from being jealous that I'm not out there giving it a shot.
What have I done to put myself in that position, though? Nothing. I play some poker here and there, don't study at all, don't really put any effort into improving my game whatsoever. Sure, I'm trying when I'm at the table. But at this pace I'm going to turn into one of those guys that are 70 years old, still playing 1/2 NL, breaking even or losing. Talking about how "I used to play 5/10 NL" or "I won some tournament some time ago". I don't want to be that guy. I don't know if I honestly want to play poker professionally or not, but I know that I'm not giving myself the option either. I'm simply not improving and it makes sense - I'm not putting any effort into that.
I've lived in Vegas for 9 years. When I moved here I was trying to be a professional poker player. I had no job and I played a lot, and it seemed like it was working out for a short while. But I made mistakes then - didn't manage my money properly, didn't put a ton of effort into studying, and eventually it came crashing down. That happened after less than a year. What have I done in the last 8 years to improve the situation? Nothing. I've worked, I've played periodically, and I've studied the game the most minor amount. I'll buy a poker book, read the first 1/5 of it, and never finish it. I have a library of poker content that I haven't read, and what I've read I don't think I've put the effort in to really learn it.
After Billy made the final table it made me think, I need to start putting effort into this. I care about poker. I want to win. I want to be that guy. And I can! My wife supports the crazy dream I have. I wrote "stupid dream" originally but erased it. Is it stupid? No. Is it unrealistic? Today - yes. But if I put the effort in, maybe not. I need to at least start there and start putting the effort in to improve my game. I mean I have literally thrown away 8 years. If I don't start making incremental steps forward now, I'll be right where I am now in 8 years - playing low buy-in tournaments, playing 1/2 or 2/5 NL, complaining when I lose, dreaming of making the big time.
I know I've said this before countless times. I'm hoping that seeing Billy's success can really get me in gear though. I know in my heart that it can't happen overnight. But I think that I can start putting effort in, making some incremental changes, and eventually maybe I'll get there. Maybe I won't, too. But if I don't put in the effort, it's a guarantee that I'll never get there.
I started today by starting over on The Mental Game of Poker book. Another book I read 50% of or so, thought it was great, but took no real action on it. I started reading it and it had some questions it suggested writing down and really thinking about, so I did that. It also has the concept of "inchworm" where you think about the best and worst parts of your game, and you try to improve both ends. So I wrote down the perceived best and worst parts of my game today.
It was somewhat enlightening - I really didn't have much good to say about my game. I feel like there are some poker basics I still don't grasp or I just have a beginner's mentality in many ways. I'm going to post what I wrote down here, even though some of it is embarassing and stupid.
More posts to come after this too. I'm hoping I can spend time after work or at lunch (like I used to do when I started playing) learning the game and improving.
The Mental Game of Poker - first set of questions (page 18)
How much you knew the first time you played poker
Not much. I hadn’t played much as a kid or anything. Started playing some online just messing around and I literally knew nothing. I didn’t even know the rules of some games when I played at a dealer’s choice home game and I remember losing a huge Omaha pot because I didn’t understand Omaha, we played Chicago and I didn’t know if an ace was low or high, and so on.
The complexity of your thought process when making poker decisions now compared to when you first started really trying to improve
At least when I’m playing my “A” game, I am thinking about what other people might have and sometimes even what they think I have. I also consider things like if I call now, what will I do on a future street. I think about pot odds although I do ignore them sometimes. Overall I think that I consider others in the pot a lot more than what I used to. I also take others’ chip stacks into consideration a lot more than I used to when calling with a speculative hand, although I can ignore that as well depending on how I’m playing.
A mistake you recently discovered
I played an Aria tournament recently and got really deep and had a huge chip stack with about 12 left. I got all in pre flop against the biggest stack at the table. I had TT and he had raised it huge like 5x. I went all in. The decision itself wasn’t necessarily bad, but I didn’t consider how important my chips were at that point in the tournament and the fact that if I just let it go, I still had a great stack heading to the final table. Probably a ICM thing, I don’t really understand ICM or how to calculate it.
Decisions at the table that are made automatically
Folding really terrible hands especially out of position (assuming I’m not drunk)
Knowing what hands to play pre flop in which position (although I don’t always follow it)
Mistakes that don’t happen anymore
It’s actually hard for me to think of a bunch of mistakes I used to make that I don’t anymore. I think I am way more cautious about losing a MONSTER pot with a pretty weak top pair type of hand. I understand the hand rankings in any game I play (Omaha, etc) so I don’t think I am making mistakes related to that anymore.
Best and worst parts of my poker game today
- If I lose a few big hands in a row, I tend to get upset and can go on tilt. It can also cause me to stop playing for a long time.
- I will play hands sometimes even if I KNOW it’s a bad idea, because I’m behind or about to leave or whatever.
- I am terrible at reading peoples’ physical tells. If I try to read people, I often make the wrong decision based on something I think I saw.
- If I’m playing drunk I have a really hard time controlling myself and my bad decisions become worse and I play super loose.
- I don’t often apply correct pot odds when calling on a draw.
- I don’t count the pot, which leads to bad pot odds decisions.
- I don’t typically pay close attention to what others are doing at the table, so it’s hard for me to get a grasp of players’ tendencies before I get into a hand with them.
- Other people will annoy me by doing various things (winning a lot, thinking they are the shit, being rude or talking shit) and that puts me on tilt.
- I don’t take regular breaks which may negatively affect my mental state and concentration.
- I will get frustrated and can go on tilt if I’m playing for a while and don’t win.
- I don’t make an effort to make my physical movements consistent and reduce any physical tells I may be giving off.
- I get jealous of others for winning when I’m not, including people like my wife or friends. This can put me on tilt.
- I get annoyed and can go on tilt if I see my wife make a move that I think is not optimal.
- I don’t understand the details of ICM in tournaments so I’m unable to apply it to my tournament decisions well.
- I tend to do mechanical things where I don’t totally understand the reasoning behind it (c-betting a ton of flops, etc) and it can put me on tilt if it doesn’t work.
- Properly executing my strategy can put me on tilt if it doesn’t work, or especially if it doesn’t work several times in a row.
- I used to study poker a lot early in my career, and I don’t study anywhere near as much anymore.
- I feel like I am entitled to win if I put a decent amount of hours in. If I play every day for a week and don’t win for example, I get very frustrated and might quit for a while.
- I can play draws too strongly even in spots where it’s not a good idea, if I feel like I’m not winning enough and need to get ahead.
- I tend to hold it together if I lose ONE big pot (although see “worst” above).
- I am able to make some big folds.
- If I’m playing my best I take my time and really think through decisions.
- I am starting to think more about what other people have and how they will react to my actions, or what they think I have.
- I am capable of making some very thin value bets to get max value.
- I am able to fold some very appealing hands preflop (like small pairs) if I am not getting proper odds to call.
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