Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Perfect - Perfect
Ok. So, I played one last session for 2007. I won $27 at Greektown Friday night. Whooo! Hoooo!.
I was actually up $200 from an hour of play at the no-limit table. I was getting good control of the table of a brand new table that just opened. I had one of the 2 big stacks at the table. Things were looking goooood!
Then, I decided to join my friend for some $3/$6 limit Hold’em. So, I moved my chips and buckled down for some tight/aggressive, high-quality LHE.
The players were god awful. All of them. They couldn’t read the board. I saw one guy run failed river bluff raises, one-after-the-other, more times than I could count. I felt like telling him, “I don’t think that play works so well,” but I came to my senses and just praised him for having heart every time he tried this play.
Yada yada yada. I loose all but $27 of the profit I had made from NL.
Anyway, an interesting hand came up.
A pot is capped 5 ways preflop. The flop comes A-K-4 rainbow.
One player, who looked like the young Richard Dryfus, takes a stab at it after the flop and gets one caller. The turn is a 5. Making a board of A-K-4-5. The young Richard Dryfus bets out again and is again called again by someone who I’ll call Mr. Dumas (pronounced Dumb Ass – not Doo’ mas). The river is a 6 – making a board of A-K-4-5-6.
Richard Dryfus tries one last time and is sheepishly called by Dumas (remember, it’s pronounced Dumb Ass) who is apologizing as he makes his call.
Although, we had established a player’s only rule at this table that no one could apologize for making a donkey play and no player could complain about the donkey play of another, this one was an exception.
Dumas shows 7-8 for a straight to the 8. Richard Dryfus mucks his top set in disgust and chastises Dumas for his bad play.
When Richard Dryfus asked, “what did you call the flop with?” Dumas replied, “well, there was $60 in the pot and I just need to call one small bet to see if I could pick up a draw”.
I was floored by this.
I figured that he would need to catch “perfect, perfect” to make a hand. I wasn’t exactly sure, but I though the odds of catching perfect-perfect is about 1%. That means he needs to make about 100x his call of $3 to be getting the right price ($300).
Anyway, this type of poker expertise pervaded this particular table. I swear, this $3/$6 game has to be the most profitable game in the casino for someone who can read a board and calculate the right price needed to chase perfect-perfect.
I think I’ll go back tomorrow.
I was actually up $200 from an hour of play at the no-limit table. I was getting good control of the table of a brand new table that just opened. I had one of the 2 big stacks at the table. Things were looking goooood!
Then, I decided to join my friend for some $3/$6 limit Hold’em. So, I moved my chips and buckled down for some tight/aggressive, high-quality LHE.
The players were god awful. All of them. They couldn’t read the board. I saw one guy run failed river bluff raises, one-after-the-other, more times than I could count. I felt like telling him, “I don’t think that play works so well,” but I came to my senses and just praised him for having heart every time he tried this play.
Yada yada yada. I loose all but $27 of the profit I had made from NL.
Anyway, an interesting hand came up.
A pot is capped 5 ways preflop. The flop comes A-K-4 rainbow.
One player, who looked like the young Richard Dryfus, takes a stab at it after the flop and gets one caller. The turn is a 5. Making a board of A-K-4-5. The young Richard Dryfus bets out again and is again called again by someone who I’ll call Mr. Dumas (pronounced Dumb Ass – not Doo’ mas). The river is a 6 – making a board of A-K-4-5-6.
Richard Dryfus tries one last time and is sheepishly called by Dumas (remember, it’s pronounced Dumb Ass) who is apologizing as he makes his call.
Although, we had established a player’s only rule at this table that no one could apologize for making a donkey play and no player could complain about the donkey play of another, this one was an exception.
Dumas shows 7-8 for a straight to the 8. Richard Dryfus mucks his top set in disgust and chastises Dumas for his bad play.
When Richard Dryfus asked, “what did you call the flop with?” Dumas replied, “well, there was $60 in the pot and I just need to call one small bet to see if I could pick up a draw”.
I was floored by this.
I figured that he would need to catch “perfect, perfect” to make a hand. I wasn’t exactly sure, but I though the odds of catching perfect-perfect is about 1%. That means he needs to make about 100x his call of $3 to be getting the right price ($300).
Anyway, this type of poker expertise pervaded this particular table. I swear, this $3/$6 game has to be the most profitable game in the casino for someone who can read a board and calculate the right price needed to chase perfect-perfect.
I think I’ll go back tomorrow.
Monday, December 17, 2007
A Game that plays bigger than it should
So I think my 2007 poker year has come to an end. I took pretty lengthy break in Sep, Oct, and Nov, but I was able to squeeze 3 games in 3 weekends in Dec, so I'm pretty satisfied.
On the first weekend in Dec, we played a 3 handed $2/$4 limit mixed game and I got schooled to the tune of $125.
The following weekend we played an 8 handed $2/$4 limit mixed game and I got lucky and won it all back - that, and I outplayed Karl in some monster pots.
Then, this last weekend I played at the ever so juicy golf-course game. This game is marked by lots of players with lots of $100 bills that they keep peeling off every time they need to rebuy.
And rebuy they did!
I didn't exactly count, but I'm guessing that within the first hour there was 15 rebuys at our 8 handed table. The rebuy frenzy settled down a little and probably averaged 4 rebuys per hour thereafter. This type of activity, really puts a lot of money at the table and makes the game play really big.
The game was $1/$2 blinds NL Hold'em with a $100 min / $200 max buyin. I had only brought $250 with me to the game, so I needed to get lucky early, or avoid getting unlucky early, or I'd be going home early. I bought in for $200.
The game was pretty loose/aggressive. By loose, I mean there was a whole lot of calling and overcalling of preflop raises. By aggressive, I mean there was a whole lot of aggressive plays at the pots after the flop - mostly as stone cold bluffs.
I decided the best strategy was to play super-tight preflop, but lower my calling/raising standards a little post flop.
I was up to about $350 when I got involved in a big pot. Holding A-4, on a board of A-3-4, I got another player to put his entire $150 stack into the pot on the flop holding A-10....I lost when one of the last two 10s comes on the river. Back to even.
I piddled my stack down to about $130 when I was dealt AA in the SB. A MP player open raises to $20. The player to his left calls. The player to my right (button), raises to $60. I go all in for $130. The player in the SB calls my $130 and leave $150 behind. The original raiser and caller bow out. The button goes all in with his $1200 stack and the Big blind calls - creating a side pot. Button show KK and confirms a label that I had been putting on him as a solid player. The BB shows A-10 and confirms a different label that I had been putting him on. The label rhymes with "ronkey".
I triple up.
On the first weekend in Dec, we played a 3 handed $2/$4 limit mixed game and I got schooled to the tune of $125.
The following weekend we played an 8 handed $2/$4 limit mixed game and I got lucky and won it all back - that, and I outplayed Karl in some monster pots.
Then, this last weekend I played at the ever so juicy golf-course game. This game is marked by lots of players with lots of $100 bills that they keep peeling off every time they need to rebuy.
And rebuy they did!
I didn't exactly count, but I'm guessing that within the first hour there was 15 rebuys at our 8 handed table. The rebuy frenzy settled down a little and probably averaged 4 rebuys per hour thereafter. This type of activity, really puts a lot of money at the table and makes the game play really big.
The game was $1/$2 blinds NL Hold'em with a $100 min / $200 max buyin. I had only brought $250 with me to the game, so I needed to get lucky early, or avoid getting unlucky early, or I'd be going home early. I bought in for $200.
The game was pretty loose/aggressive. By loose, I mean there was a whole lot of calling and overcalling of preflop raises. By aggressive, I mean there was a whole lot of aggressive plays at the pots after the flop - mostly as stone cold bluffs.
I decided the best strategy was to play super-tight preflop, but lower my calling/raising standards a little post flop.
I was up to about $350 when I got involved in a big pot. Holding A-4, on a board of A-3-4, I got another player to put his entire $150 stack into the pot on the flop holding A-10....I lost when one of the last two 10s comes on the river. Back to even.
I piddled my stack down to about $130 when I was dealt AA in the SB. A MP player open raises to $20. The player to his left calls. The player to my right (button), raises to $60. I go all in for $130. The player in the SB calls my $130 and leave $150 behind. The original raiser and caller bow out. The button goes all in with his $1200 stack and the Big blind calls - creating a side pot. Button show KK and confirms a label that I had been putting on him as a solid player. The BB shows A-10 and confirms a different label that I had been putting him on. The label rhymes with "ronkey".
I triple up.
Last big hand. I hold QQ when we are 5 handed. I preflop open raise to $20 from UTG. I get 2 callers. The flop comes 5-6-7. I decided to put about another $120 of my $300 stack in on this flop. So I bet pot ($60) on the flop and get one caller. This guy was pretty fishy. He chased, and mostly hit, every draw of the night. I saw this guy call $110 into a $65 pot chasing a flush draw against a short stack...and hit of course - reinforcing his bad play.
I decided that I may just be betting for value by getting my entire stack in on this hand. So, when a 5 comes on the turn giving a board of 5-5-6-7, I bet $120 and get check raised for my last $120.
With a pot of $540, I need to call $120. I very well might be up against 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, J-J. More than likely I was up against A-5, A-6, A-7, or A-8. Unlikely, but I may be up against 6-6 or 7-7.
Given the range, the pot odds 3.5 to 1, and the extra incentive of punishing the same guy who hit a 2 outer on me earlier, I make somewhat of a crying call and say, "I hope you didn't get lucky on me."
Villian shows 8-9 for a flopped straight. I wanted to puke. I didn't show my hand, but I said, "well, I guess I'll need a 5 or a queen".
A queen hits on the river. I hit my 4 outer and rake $650 pot against the guy that earlier hit a 2 outer on me for a $150 pot.
So the big question is-------------->What is the best strategy for playing a small blind (1/2) game, when the average stacks are big (400x - 500x) and the opening preflop raise is usually 7x to 15x - a game that plays much bigger than it should? I guess it really depends if you are deep or not. Comments welcome.
Next post, I'll share my winning secrets to fantasy basketball. It involves trading away top 50 players in exchange for players that you can put up on waivers 2 weeks later.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
R.I.P. Chip
I guess I didn't realize how big of a fan I was until I read that Chip Reese had passed away. I felt really bad....like real fan would feel.
Anyway, maybe Chip will one day be credited with being the offical "father" of the offical championship game of poker - limit HORSE.
Anyway, maybe Chip will one day be credited with being the offical "father" of the offical championship game of poker - limit HORSE.
High Stakes Poker - Classic Sports Choke Job
Did you see High Stakes Poker on GSN last night? It was very exciting. The biggest pot of the night - and quite possibly, the biggest pot ever played, came down between Guy Laliberte and David Benyamine.
The game is no limit holdem with a minimum buyin of $500k. They were playing with $100 antes, and blinds of $300/$600/$1200. With a live $2400 straddle, they created a $50K pot preflop with 3 players.
David flopped the nut flush draw and Guy flopped 2 pair (Kings and 5s). David pushes all in and is called by Guy. They both have about $600k. This makes the pot around $1.2 million.
I guess at these astronomical levels, players heads start to go a little fuzzy or something. After turning their hands face up, David looked like he had just been punched in the gut. Guy could not formulate a coherent sentence.
Then something unbelievable happens. Guy offers to just take the $50k in the pot and end the hand right there. David insta-accepts the deal.
What?
This was about to be the biggest payday of Guy's life and he settles for $50k? The only thing I can figure, is that he was so nervous that he couldn't think straight. This must be one of those classic big moment choke jobs that we see in other sports (ala Chris Webber NCAA finals time out).
I think even I could have put together a little analysis in the heat of the moment that would go something like this.
David has 9 outs to make a flush with 2 cards to come. Then, even if he makes a flush on the turn, I could make a boat on the river. I'll give him 8 outs. That means he wins about 32% of the time (8x4). I'll round this a little to 35%.
That means I "own" about 65% of his $600k stack. Let's see - 10% of $600k is $60K. Times 6 = $360K plus a half = $390k. So. I "own" about $400k of David's stack.
Let's see. I'm willing to pay a "risk premium" to avoid variance with 2 cards to come. I think I'll offer David a deal. I'll pay him $50K to not see the turn and river. I'll ask him for $350k. If he refuses the deal, I'll offer to run it 3 or 4 times to reduce my variance a little further.
But, there is just no way in hell I'm going to "give" him $300k of the money that I now "own" to avoid playing the turn and river. After all, I'm a professional gambler. I can only dream of situations where I get to put $600k in action as a 2:1 favorite.
The game is no limit holdem with a minimum buyin of $500k. They were playing with $100 antes, and blinds of $300/$600/$1200. With a live $2400 straddle, they created a $50K pot preflop with 3 players.
David flopped the nut flush draw and Guy flopped 2 pair (Kings and 5s). David pushes all in and is called by Guy. They both have about $600k. This makes the pot around $1.2 million.
I guess at these astronomical levels, players heads start to go a little fuzzy or something. After turning their hands face up, David looked like he had just been punched in the gut. Guy could not formulate a coherent sentence.
Then something unbelievable happens. Guy offers to just take the $50k in the pot and end the hand right there. David insta-accepts the deal.
What?
This was about to be the biggest payday of Guy's life and he settles for $50k? The only thing I can figure, is that he was so nervous that he couldn't think straight. This must be one of those classic big moment choke jobs that we see in other sports (ala Chris Webber NCAA finals time out).
I think even I could have put together a little analysis in the heat of the moment that would go something like this.
David has 9 outs to make a flush with 2 cards to come. Then, even if he makes a flush on the turn, I could make a boat on the river. I'll give him 8 outs. That means he wins about 32% of the time (8x4). I'll round this a little to 35%.
That means I "own" about 65% of his $600k stack. Let's see - 10% of $600k is $60K. Times 6 = $360K plus a half = $390k. So. I "own" about $400k of David's stack.
Let's see. I'm willing to pay a "risk premium" to avoid variance with 2 cards to come. I think I'll offer David a deal. I'll pay him $50K to not see the turn and river. I'll ask him for $350k. If he refuses the deal, I'll offer to run it 3 or 4 times to reduce my variance a little further.
But, there is just no way in hell I'm going to "give" him $300k of the money that I now "own" to avoid playing the turn and river. After all, I'm a professional gambler. I can only dream of situations where I get to put $600k in action as a 2:1 favorite.
