I kept a log of my Poker results on a spreadsheet for every time I played. It shows that I had gotten up to over $1700 in profit playing Poker in my off hours before losing all but $185 of it.
Looking back on my notes I see that I make a lot of my No Limit Hold'em profits by raising pre-flop and betting out at the flop, taking the small pots more often than not. I also see that the biggest consistent leak in my game is from losing my stack with just one pair - usually middle pocket pairs like 88 through JJ. I can attribute $800 in losses just in the last week to overplaying pocket pairs. If I can learn to keep those pots small or simply fold them in response to large raises I might be able to keep some of my profits.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
That's a Wrap - for me
I turned in my badge and my vest to the Rio Uniform Shop. For me the WSOP is over - even though it continues. The Main Event continues with over a hundred players left out of the original 7,400+ entrants. They are now in Day 6 and will play until they get down to the final nine players, then they will take a break until November and the final nine will play down to a winner.
A break? Sounds odd. Here is the deal. ESPN has found that WSOP broadcasts hold a larger audience than any other ESPN show outside of football. ESPN decided that showing all of the episodes when everybody already knows the outcome is sort of anticlimactic. To improve the show they came to an agreement with Harrah's that they would film all of the WSOP, create the television shows, broadcast them as a series throughout the summer and fall, then, in November, bring back the final nine and broadcast the final table and decide a winner with a "near real-time" telecast. ESPN figures to boost their ratings by keeping the suspense up. The Final Table will be played, not in the Amazon Room where most of the tournament was held, but on the big stage in the Rio's Penn and Teller Theatre in front of a packed live theatre audience with everyone miked up and the latest in ESPN's video technology in use to create the show.
I find it interesting that "final table" Poker is very different to the Poker played for most all of the event. The Main Event is a "deep stack" tournament. Players start the tournament with $30,000 and with the blinds set at $50 and $100. The blinds escalate very slowly to put pressure on the smaller stacks. The style of Poker played for most of the tournament is very different from what you will see at the final table. On television you will see a series of hands played out where a player is "All In" and there are more cards to come. Announcers will describe the probability of their survival or double up depending on how the cards lie and what cards they need to make a winning hand. They will show every bust out.
During the course of the tournament, however, while yes, players are busting out regularly, the vast majority of hands are decided without a showdown. Players bet, raise and re-raise until they figure out they cannot make their opponent fold and they will likely lose in a showdown, so they fold their hand and the pot is pushed to the winner who is not required to show the hand. It is quite possible to deal 20 or more hands in a tournament in a row without ever seeing a showdown - just a series of bets, raises and folds. The essence of deep stack Poker is in the decisions made on every street: Should I check, bet, raise or fold? As opposed to short stack poker where the decision is limited to: Do I shove it in now or should I wait for a better spot?
Deep stack Poker is much more interesting and I hope ESPN shows a lot of it as opposed to just the "All in and a call" hands.
A break? Sounds odd. Here is the deal. ESPN has found that WSOP broadcasts hold a larger audience than any other ESPN show outside of football. ESPN decided that showing all of the episodes when everybody already knows the outcome is sort of anticlimactic. To improve the show they came to an agreement with Harrah's that they would film all of the WSOP, create the television shows, broadcast them as a series throughout the summer and fall, then, in November, bring back the final nine and broadcast the final table and decide a winner with a "near real-time" telecast. ESPN figures to boost their ratings by keeping the suspense up. The Final Table will be played, not in the Amazon Room where most of the tournament was held, but on the big stage in the Rio's Penn and Teller Theatre in front of a packed live theatre audience with everyone miked up and the latest in ESPN's video technology in use to create the show.
I find it interesting that "final table" Poker is very different to the Poker played for most all of the event. The Main Event is a "deep stack" tournament. Players start the tournament with $30,000 and with the blinds set at $50 and $100. The blinds escalate very slowly to put pressure on the smaller stacks. The style of Poker played for most of the tournament is very different from what you will see at the final table. On television you will see a series of hands played out where a player is "All In" and there are more cards to come. Announcers will describe the probability of their survival or double up depending on how the cards lie and what cards they need to make a winning hand. They will show every bust out.
During the course of the tournament, however, while yes, players are busting out regularly, the vast majority of hands are decided without a showdown. Players bet, raise and re-raise until they figure out they cannot make their opponent fold and they will likely lose in a showdown, so they fold their hand and the pot is pushed to the winner who is not required to show the hand. It is quite possible to deal 20 or more hands in a tournament in a row without ever seeing a showdown - just a series of bets, raises and folds. The essence of deep stack Poker is in the decisions made on every street: Should I check, bet, raise or fold? As opposed to short stack poker where the decision is limited to: Do I shove it in now or should I wait for a better spot?
Deep stack Poker is much more interesting and I hope ESPN shows a lot of it as opposed to just the "All in and a call" hands.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Off Early and Busted
Mark Seif, attorney and renound Poker player said, There's three ways to play jacks, ...and they're all wrong.
Famous Poker author, analyst and this year's Champion of the Ante up for Africa tournament said, "Don't go broke with just one pair."
I would be a wealthier Poker player if I could follow the advice of these guys.
After four downs I was done for the day, a victim of the shrinking field and the now absence of any afternoon tournaments, satellites or cash games. After weeks of needing a thousand dealers to mind the tables, now we only need a couple hundred.
With all of this wonderful knowledge acquired through hours of sitting at the tables observing the best in the game, I decided to try my hand at the $1- $3 No Limit table at the regular Rio Poker Room.
Things did not go well.
I lost a small bundle when my AK ran into four-of-a-kind deuces, then busted a guy who tried to bluff me with a flush draw when I had an overpair, pocket tens. Then I got pocket jacks on the button.
Pocket jacks can be problematic when facing a raise or a re-raise, but here, there were just four limpers (players who called the $3 Big Blind rather than raising). My best play is to raise and see if anyone is playing possum and re-raises or if I am ahead. I made a near pot size raise to $17. I was hoping to get just a single caller and the result was almost that: two callers. No re-raise. Likely players with weaker holdings looking to catch a lucky flop.
The flop is laid out 9-8-4 showing all three suits. A nice flop for jacks. I really don't want to see any more cards so after the callers checked I made a bet of $50. One player raised to $100 and the other folded.
This is where the game gets interesting. Did he check-raise just to see if I was bluffing? Did he check-raise because he caught the very lucky flop he was looking for? Did he catch three-of-a-kind with a small pocket pair? Did he just catch a nine and figure to catch a bluff?
I hoped for the last option. The only way to really find out is to re-raise. I went all in, about $325 total. My opponent did not immediately call. This is a good sign. If he had me beat with two pair or a set he would snap call. He hesitated. I was confident I had the best hand. He asked, "You have another big pair?" That's certainly what I am representing - that or a set. Are you feeling lucky?"
"I don't know, I might need to get lucky. I'll call it."
I showed him my jacks and he turned over a queen and a nine.
Yes, a killer queen showed up on the Turn card and I was done unless a miracle jack showed up on the River. No such luck.
Back to the drawing board.
In Phil Gordon's excellent Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em, he talks about keeping the pot small when all he has is an overpair to the board and avoiding losing his whole stack when he is behind. I suppose I could have played it differently and limited my losses but I'm just not yet a good enough player to do that.
Famous Poker author, analyst and this year's Champion of the Ante up for Africa tournament said, "Don't go broke with just one pair."
I would be a wealthier Poker player if I could follow the advice of these guys.
After four downs I was done for the day, a victim of the shrinking field and the now absence of any afternoon tournaments, satellites or cash games. After weeks of needing a thousand dealers to mind the tables, now we only need a couple hundred.
With all of this wonderful knowledge acquired through hours of sitting at the tables observing the best in the game, I decided to try my hand at the $1- $3 No Limit table at the regular Rio Poker Room.
Things did not go well.
I lost a small bundle when my AK ran into four-of-a-kind deuces, then busted a guy who tried to bluff me with a flush draw when I had an overpair, pocket tens. Then I got pocket jacks on the button.
Pocket jacks can be problematic when facing a raise or a re-raise, but here, there were just four limpers (players who called the $3 Big Blind rather than raising). My best play is to raise and see if anyone is playing possum and re-raises or if I am ahead. I made a near pot size raise to $17. I was hoping to get just a single caller and the result was almost that: two callers. No re-raise. Likely players with weaker holdings looking to catch a lucky flop.
The flop is laid out 9-8-4 showing all three suits. A nice flop for jacks. I really don't want to see any more cards so after the callers checked I made a bet of $50. One player raised to $100 and the other folded.
This is where the game gets interesting. Did he check-raise just to see if I was bluffing? Did he check-raise because he caught the very lucky flop he was looking for? Did he catch three-of-a-kind with a small pocket pair? Did he just catch a nine and figure to catch a bluff?
I hoped for the last option. The only way to really find out is to re-raise. I went all in, about $325 total. My opponent did not immediately call. This is a good sign. If he had me beat with two pair or a set he would snap call. He hesitated. I was confident I had the best hand. He asked, "You have another big pair?" That's certainly what I am representing - that or a set. Are you feeling lucky?"
"I don't know, I might need to get lucky. I'll call it."
I showed him my jacks and he turned over a queen and a nine.
So here is the situation: There is some $770 in the pot. I have a pocket pair of jacks. My opponent has a pair of nines holding a queen kicker. From a probability standpoint I am way ahead. He could catch two perfect cards and make a straight 8-9-10-J-Q but with me holding two of the jacks, the probability is less than 1%. More likely he could catch one of the two remaining nines or one of three remaining queens with two cards yet to come. 5 outs. Of the 45 unknown cards, 40 of them make me a winner and 5 of them make me a loser. The math is 5/45 = 11.1% so 88.9% of the time he should miss on the first card. 5/44 = 11.3% so of that 88.9% of the time, he misses 88.7% of the time meaning overall he should miss 79% of the time. That makes me about a 4 to 1 favorite with two cards to go. This is a situation players love - all the money in the middle and being a big favorite to win.Why does it always seem to work out that when you are up against the short stack, like earlier when a guy shoved it all in with just a flush draw, the math works in your favor and you bust him but when it is a really big pot, that's when the poker gods get fickle and make you walk away muttering and shaking your head?
Yes, a killer queen showed up on the Turn card and I was done unless a miracle jack showed up on the River. No such luck.
Back to the drawing board.
In Phil Gordon's excellent Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em, he talks about keeping the pot small when all he has is an overpair to the board and avoiding losing his whole stack when he is behind. I suppose I could have played it differently and limited my losses but I'm just not yet a good enough player to do that.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Cookie Monster
When Heather Sue is not making the 'best damn cookies on earth' she likes to spend her vacations away from mid-town New York in Las Vegas playing high stakes tournaments. She appears calm and collected at the table and although claiming to be a novice and eager to learn she is far from a beginner.
Back in New York she runs Ruby et Violette (http://www.rubyetviolette.com) with her two sisters and comes up with cookie carnations such as Drunken Pumpkin, Root Beer Float and Champagne Strawberry. They run the cafe in New York and send them all over America. If you are ever in the Big Apple make sure to try them out!
(Mob Staff Apr 2009)
The real givaway was the cookie she had on the table labeled, "Root Beer Float".
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
TV Time
Yep. That's my hand holding the deck.
If anyone has more info on my 15 sewconds of fame, please leave a comment below.
Thanks!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Back to Back Flack
After I had broken a table in the $1000 No Limit Hold'em event I was assigned to the late entry section which allows players to begin the tournament at the start of level three with a full stack of chips. Many big name pros feel that their time is better spent doing other things than playing the first two levels of the tournament when the blinds are so low compared to the average chip stack. It makes the late entry tables very tough tables to play at.
Tom Schneider, 2007 WSOP Player of the year, checked into the table, handing me his buy-in receipt. I greeted him and asked for his ID telling him that although I know who he is I still am supposed to ask for his ID. "No problem." He handed me his driver's license. After I checked in several others to the table Layne Flack showed up. He was loud and seemed "under the influence" shouting at the other players, "Your worst nightmare just got here and it's me in this tournament!"
He threw his crumpled up receipt to me saying, "You know who the fuck I am and you don't need any fucking ID."
"No problem - Floor! Table 208"
Layne Flack's passport then suddenly appeared in front of me. The floor supervisor showed up looking very concerned. I waved him off, "Player found his passport."
Then Chris Ferguson showed up to check in in full "Jesus" regalia: Black cowboy hat, shoulder length hair, black leather duster.
"I wanna see you ask for his fucking ID!" Everyone at the table was laughing and shaking their heads.
Chris handed me his receipt and I dutifully asked for his ID. He reached in his pocket and handed me a twenty dollar bill.
I took the twenty, looked down at it, looked back at Chris and said, "Works for me!" as I put the twenty in my vest pocket with a smile and pushed his stack of chips toward his seat.
A dealer tapped me on the shoulder. I couldn't believe it. It was 2:30. I didn't even get to deal this raucous table a hand and the push was going through and I had to go on break. Rats. If the check-in was that exciting, the Poker was bound to be entertaining!
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