Quality, not Quantity!

After the great debacle that was my last session, I decided to scale back the number of tables I played and really try to focus on every decision I made. I think a large part of the reason I lost so much so quickly last week was that I had essentially been playing on auto-pilot. While this was enough when the situations were fairly standard (usually a product of getting good cards), it was evidently not enough when I was faced with a number of marginal situations simultaneously. I think when you’re playing on auto-pilot and winning at the same time, you don’t realize just how much better you’re results could be. You are, after all, winning, so you don’t see anything obviously or glaringly wrong with your game. It is only when you begin losing that you can really begin to see the bad decisions that you made along the line.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, my new strategy worked admirably. I managed to recoup all of my losses from my last session in just over five days playing two hours a day. I’m especially pleased at this result since I honestly thought it might take me up to a month to recoup the five grand.












The only blip from the past few days is that hand at the very end of the graph above. It involved me getting stacked for 250bb’s with AA in a 3-way 3-bet pot. While I could definitely get away from the hand that deep versus just about anyone, I simply refused to fold it to a 67/13 fish (over 300+ hands) on a 487r flop when he shoved over my $215 continuation bet for $1150 more. It definitely looks foolish, but given how badly he was playing and the kinds of hands he was showing down, I think I’d still call if I was put in that spot again. For the record, he had 87o.

University starts again next week and I have some serious catching up to do so I don’t think I’ll be able to play cash games again for a while. I have, in any case, been trying to avoid cash games during University weekdays since I find I simply can’t play them properly if I know I have to stop in an hour or so to do some homework. It makes me force the action in an effort to rack up quick dollars and invariably results in me losing money very quickly and chasing for the next two hours. If I do have some spare time to play, I’m going to try to stick to playing the speed tournaments on PartyPoker. I’ve had a lot of success in them in the past and they’re a great way to make a quick four-figure score. I haven’t played them in a while though so I’ll keep you informed of how I go!

Star City Easter Monday Poker Tournament

As I mentioned at the end of my last entry, I decided to go to Star City today to play in their Easter Monday Poker Tournament. The buy-in was $400 and there were 265 runners (capped at this number), creating a prize pool of almost $100,000. The top 30 finishers made the money, with 1st receiving $30,000, 2nd receiving $19,000 and 3rd receiving $10,000.

The structure for the tournament was pretty good considering the size of the buy-in. We were given $6000 stacks and 30 minute levels with the blinds starting at a lowly 25/50.

I didn’t play a hand for the first 2 orbits, preferring instead to get better acquainted with my new opposition. The table seemed very passive and there was lots of limping preflop. The only player who frequently raised preflop was the player directly to my right and even he didn’t seem to grasp the concept that well – he’d often only min-raise after several people limped.

The first hand I played was pocket sixes. The player to my right opened in early position to 150 (blinds at 25/50) and I called, as did both blinds. The flop came 865r, giving me middle set. The small blind, an Asian man wearing a PokerStars shirt, led out for 250 into the 600 pot. It was folded to me and I raised it up to 850. He called 600 more after some thought. At this point, I was putting him on a hand like 87s which had a pair and a straight draw. The turn came a safe T and he checked to me. The pot contained about 2300 and I bet 1700. He tanked for a while and frankly I would’ve been sick and completely lost as to what to do if he shoved. Luckily though, he just folded and I was up to 7000 in chips!

The next hand I played I was dealt two black queens in early position and raised three times the blind. Only the big blind called and the flop came 875 with a flush draw. He checked and I checked it back, not wanting to get check-raised on this flop by a semi-bluff to which I’d probably have to fold. The turn brought another Q, giving me top set and putting a second flush draw out there. The big blind checked again and suddenly I went from fearing a set or two pair to hoping he had just that. Unfortunately, when I bet, he instantly folded.

I then lost four small pots in a row and soon found myself back at my starting stack. In the first hand, I led from the small blind with a flush draw with Q5s and had to fold to a raise. In the second, I value bet K4 on the river from the big blind on a board of QT5K8 after it had been checked through on the flop and turn and had to fold again to a raise (rivered a set I assume). In the third hand, I opened A7s from the hijack and had to fold to a 3-bet from the cutoff. And in the final hand, I led T9s from the small blind on a 922 flop (three-way pot with button who had open-limped) and had to fold to a raise from the big blind. Although I was never out of line in any of these pots, my image had no doubt deteriorated since the only thing the other players saw was me betting and folding to any action. I made a conscious effort at this point to tighten up again.

About two orbits later, I was in the small blind with Q4s. A couple of players limped and the button min-raised to 400. He had been doing this every orbit so I decided that this would be a pretty good time to 3-bet him with air. Given my tight image and his extremely wide raising range, I was pretty confident that I would take the pot down right then and there. There was also the added advantage that, if I succeeded, he might be discouraged from raising his button in the future. As the rest of the table was extremely passive preflop, this would allow me to see more flops cheaply from the small blind. So I raised it to 1500 and everyone duly folded, giving me a nice chip-up of 1000 and building my stack to 7000 once again.

The next hand I played was also arguably the most important. The blinds were at 100/200 and I raised pocket eights in early to mid position to 500. The cutoff called as did the big blind. The pot contained 1600 and the flop came 753r. I had mixed feelings about this flop. It’s certainly about as good as it gets with pocket eights since you will rarely flop an over-pair with them. However, a flat-call preflop is very likely to be a pocket pair set-mining and this flop just about smacks that range in the face. A hand like 76s which is also likely to flat preflop has also hit this flop pretty hard, with a draw to trips, two pair or a gutshot-straight. I decided to start by betting and bet 1200 into the pot after it was checked to me. The cutoff did a massive Hollywood and just called and the big blind folded. I was pretty sure he felt he was strong but I didn’t know whether he thought 76s or A7 was the nuts there. I could be ahead, I might be terribly behind, I didn’t really know. Then the turn came the worst card in the deck, a 6. Now I’m behind his entire range and lose to every pocket pair except pocket 2’s. The problem is, I now have a straight redraw with a likely 10 outs. The pot contained 4000 and he had 2975 left. I have to admit I was pretty lost here and my lack of tournament experience showed. I didn’t want to go all-in because I was certain I’d get called and be behind. I decided that the best chance to see the river cheaply would be to check for pot control and hope he checked behind or at least only made a small badly-sized bet (which live players are apt to do). Unfortunately, he instantly shoved. I was definitely beat and my first reaction was to fold, but then I counted the pot, counted my stack, counted my odds, and realized I was completely lost. I was getting 7-3 on my call (pretty good), but the amount to call represented 60% of my remaining stack (very bad). I wasn’t sure what equity I had against his range, but my instincts told me I didn’t have enough. There are also of course other considerations in a tournament other than pot odds. For one, a 2000 chip stack would leave me virtually helpless while a 5000 chip stack would still allow me to outplay people. I thought that this was more of a consideration than usual since these players were so passive and weak. In the end, I laid the hand down and left myself with 5200. Any thoughts on this hand would be greatly appreciated.

I picked up A8s in the cutoff a few hands later and raised an under the gun limper to 800. Everyone else folded, he called, and the flop came AA9 with a flush draw (not mine). He checked, I continuation bet, he folded and I took it down. Pretty standard. I was back to my starting stack of 6000 and looking forward to the break in a few minutes.

Unfortunately, I never made it that far, for my final hand came up only a few hands later. I was in early position again and raised AQs to 800 after the under the gun player limped. The button called (the same Villain as the 88 hand) and the under the gun player called (naturally). The flop came AT5 rainbow, and the first player checked. I was ready to felt this hand and my bet-sizing didn’t really matter since I could easily get this hand all-in on two streets. I decided to bet 2000 into the 2700 pot, using just 2 chips in the hope I looked weak (if you count out a bet with multiple chip denominations, it generally means you’ve thought about it carefully, probably have a hand and are trying to accomplish something). The button called and the other player folded. The turn came a Q. I intended to check the turn no matter what since I wanted to open his range to bluffs (he had after all seen me check-fold the turn after continuation betting just one orbit earlier). With the turn giving me top two pair, I was even more comfortable in checking since I wasn’t really risking being outdrawn. I checked quickly and my opponent instantly stood up and proudly said “I put you all-in!” I did my best impression of an online snap-call and tabled my AQs. His face fell so much that I thought I must have just gotten extremely lucky and turned his AT or A5. However, he tabled just AJ, a hand that he can’t possibly expect to be good when called in that spot. So anyway, we’re off to the river and I have to dodge the King and the King only.

Then the player to my right said (incorrectly) “Wow, he’s drawing dead!”

Well, that was that. My fate was decided. As any poker player knows, whenever someone utters something like that at the table, you might as well start walking. Your 90% favouritism has just been turned into a sure fire bad beat. Sure enough, the K came on the river and my opponent screamed in joy, frantically pointing at his Jack.

So that was that. I’m hoping to play live more, but I think I’ll restrict it to tournament play since I can’t stand live cash games. Unfortunately, tournaments like this don’t come around all that often so I might be waiting a while before the next one.

Anyhow, I think I’ll call that an entry!

Feeling Terrible

I took my first serious shot at 2/4 and 3/6 last week and ran incredibly well. It was one of those weeks where everything went right. Whenever I took a bad beat, it was only for a small pot, usually against a shortstack’s preflop all-in. Meanwhile, whenever I got it in flipping for a 200bb pot, my hand held up admirably or hit what I needed.

Well, that all came to an end today. The worst part is, I didn’t actually run that badly at all. I simply played terribly and my results show it. I think the graph below summarises what I’m feeling right now quite nicely.














This graph covers the last two days. As you can see, I was running extremely hot, picking up buy-ins almost at will. Then, the most innocuous of events sent me tilting. I had found a 3/6 table with a massive fish and duly sat down. About 20 hands in, he min-raised to $12, the small blind called and it was up to me in the big blind. I had QQ and quickly re-raised to $46. The fish came along but the small blind folded. The flop came a beautiful Q99. Needless to say, I was already planning what I’d do with the money. The pot contained $94 and I decided to bet $72. Deciding, however, was as far as I got. You see, there was a slight problem. My bet/check/fold buttons had disappeared!!! In their place lay the annoyingly yellow and ever-so-innocent-looking “wait list” button. I frantically tried to fix the problem but in the end I could do nothing but stare as I open-folded my full house.

Now, I know that in all likelihood he didn’t have anything and wouldn’t have paid me off. There is something extremely aggravating however about losing a guaranteed $100 and possibly more. I didn’t suddenly go crazy or anything, but upon reflection, it definitely made me make some marginal decisions down the line that eventually spiraled out of control.

The first one probably seems the worst of the bunch but this is actually the only hand that I’d probably play the same. Essentially, I called a flop push with AK high with no pair and no draw and looked a downright twit when he tabled QQ. I’ve made this type of call only four times before and was right on three of the occasions (the Ace high held up those three times too). The fourth time I was right in the sense that I did catch my opponent bluffing – unfortunately, his AJ bluff bested my AT hero-call…Anyway, here’s today’s hand for reference. My opponent was running at a crazy 65/55.

Party Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $391.17
Hero (BB): $496.90
UTG: $420
MP: $442.87
CO: $405.70
BTN: $744

Pre-Flop: K A dealt to Hero (BB)

2 folds, CO raises to $12, 2 folds, Hero raises to $46, CO calls $34

Flop: ($94) 2 9 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $72, CO raises to $359.70 and is All-In, Hero calls $287.70

Turn: ($813.40) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($813.40) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $813.40 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed K A (high card Ace) and LOST (-$405.70 NET)
CO showed Q Q (a pair of Queens) and WON $810.40 (+$404.70 NET)

The next two hands are very similar. They both involved me taking a high risk-high reward line and in each case I was outdrawn by a runner-runner straight.

The first hand took place immediately after the AK hand above. I had sat out a few hands to reload and on my first hand back I was dealt AQs on the button. The same Villain as the AK hand raised under the gun, another player called and it was on me. I don’t normally 3-bet under the gun raisers in this spot but since this villain was no ordinary under the gun raiser I decided to go ahead. There was the added advantage that my opponents might think I was tilting and would call me down light. So I popped it up to $52 and to my surprise both players came along (I expected the raiser to call but not the caller). The flop came AK6 rainbow, giving me a pair of aces and the backdoor nut flush draw. Both players checked to me. Now, if this hand were heads-up, I’d continuation bet this flop just about 100% of the time. On this particular occasion however, I felt that betting $100+ into two people would completely give away my hand. Since the pot was so inflated, getting all-in on just two streets (rather than three) would be no problem so I decided to check it back. The turn came an 8 and it put a flush draw out there (not mine though). They both checked to me again and now I had a mandatory bet. This was where I made my first major mishap. My normal value bet would be about $115-$125, and my normal induce-a-shove bet would be above $75. I couldn’t decide which I wanted to do however so I went squarely in the middle, betting $104 (2/3 pot). This still is large enough that draws can’t chase but not so large enough that I’m squeezing enough value from another ace. It’s also not small enough to induce a shove so it’s basically a bet in no man’s land. To my utter shock, both players called once again. The river came a 5, completing the backdoor flush. Both players checked to me again. This is a spot where I’ve recently been leaning towards betting for thin value. In the past I’d check back this spot 100% of the time simply because the flush hit. Nowadays, if I’m confident enough that I have the best hand, I’ll value bet razor thin all night long (and often value-town myself in the process). On this occasion, I felt that a bet was warranted. Essentially, the only hands that beat me were a flush (obviously) and A8. Any other made hand would’ve raised the turn. The question I then had to ask myself was - would these players check these hands to me? The answer, clearly, was no. With the flush card coming, they’d have to assume I’d be scared of it and check behind. Moreover, the pot was so large now that, if they shoved, it would only be a fraction of a pot size bet and they could safely assume that I’d be forced to call since I’d be getting such good pot odds (I’d definitely fold if they shoved though). With these considerations in mind, I decided to ship the last $250 in. The Villain from the AK hand thought for about 3 seconds and called. The middle player thought for a while too before folding (I assume he had AJ or AT). Our favourite villain tabled 97s (different suit to board) for a straight and took it down. I still think this push was alright as I’m pretty confident that I would’ve gotten value from the middle player if this Villain had missed his draw. Of course, it’s hard to tell yourself that when you could’ve saved yourself $250 by checking…

The next hand involved a blind versus blind battle. I had 99 in the big blind and raised it up to $14 after the small blind open-limped. He called and the flop came A96 rainbow. He checked to me, I bet and he min-check-raised. I decided to flat here and I think that’s pretty standard. If he has an ace we’re probably getting it in anyway blind versus blind and if he has a bluff I might as well let him continue bluffing. I can’t remember what note it was that I had on him but I remember being about 80% sure he was bluffing. The turn brought a Q which also put a flush draw out there and he bet $65 into the $108 pot. At this point, I was just about 100% sure he was bluffing. There are so many draws out there now that a strong ace would bet at least $75 and a weak ace would check for pot control. He’s basically representing A6 or 66. Although I’m tempted to just call again, I decide to mini-raise to induce a shove. You’ll notice that I’ve been talking a lot about inducing bluffs through bet-sizing in this blog, and this is because it is something that I’ve been working into my game recently (I used to just standardize my bets across my entire range). Anyway, I made a small raise to $155, barely more than two times. As usually happens in pots I lose, I was shocked when he called. He now obviously had something, but what the heck did he have? The turn came an offsuit 7, and he open-shoved for $193 into the $418 pot. The flush missed, so I obviously snap-called. He tabled T8s (different suit again), having turned a double-gutshot and rivered the straight. The more I write about this hand, the more I realize it wasn’t actually that bad. However, my standard line would definitely be to raise big on the turn and that would’ve shut him out of the hand. By taking this high risk line, I perhaps maximized my expectation but lost another ‘cinch’ pot. It was after this pot, on top of the three pots mentioned above, that I basically lost it and started to play really, really bad. I began making moves everywhere and threw money away like paper. The hand below was the worst of the lot, and makes me feel sick every time I look at it. To the player who won the pot, happy Easter…


Party Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $805.70
BTN: $606
Hero (SB): $813
BB: $809.15
UTG: $645
MP: $822.78

Pre-Flop: 9 A dealt to Hero (SB)

4 folds, Hero raises to $21, BB calls $15

Flop: ($42) 5 6 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets $34, BB raises to $84, Hero raises to $240, BB calls $156

Turn: ($522) 9 (2 Players)

Hero checks, BB bets $548.15 and is All-In, Hero calls $548.15

River: ($1,618.30) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $1,618.30 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 9 A (two pairs, Nines and Fives) and LOST (-$809.15 NET)
BB showed A 5 (three of a kind, Fives) and WON $1,615.30 (+$806.15 NET)

The start of the hand isn’t played that badly I don’t think. It is the call on the turn that is beyond terrible and which literally set $550 on fire (that’s what makes me sick the most). When I got raised on the flop, a couple of things went through my head. First, since the board is paired and very dry, my opponent knows that it’s unlikely to have hit me. Thus, there’s a good chance that he’s raising me on a bluff (when you’re tilting though, every raise seems like a bluff). Secondly, I remember thinking back to what Brian Townsend said in his last CardRunners video – “when you raise on the flop, your range should be polarized so you can either dump it or ship it if you get re-raised” (paraphrased, though I think my version sounds better :)). So I’m looking at that board and thinking “a polarized range here consists of 66, 5x and an over-pair on the one hand and air on the other”. I didn’t think he’d flat a big pair preflop since we’re somewhat deep and he’d want to build the pot. This left a flopped full house or trips. That is one heck of a polarized range! I also didn’t think he’d raise this flop with those hands since he’d have the deck basically killed and would want me to continue bluffing with my likely air. There is no turn card he can be scared of if he had those hands. So I went ahead and 3-bet bluffed him. When he called, I was disappointed and obviously done with the hand.

Then I hit the 9.

Now, I knew the 9 was no good, but when you’re stuck a couple grand and you’ve just hit top pair- top kicker after 3-bet bluffing him on the flop in a blind versus blind battle, it’s mentally very hard to fold. So I went ahead and gave him my money. C’est la vie.

For a change of pace, I’m going to play in a live tournament tomorrow at Star City. I don’t play live much anymore, because 1) it’s hard to find the time to go to the casino and 2) because one -tabling a full-ring cash game bores me to death. I’ve got very limited tournament experience (I don’t play online tournaments at all) and even more limited live tournament experience (I’ve only played 3 qualifiers for APPT Sydney last year, no luck) so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I’m not really expecting a big finish but it should be a fun experience nonetheless.

Introduction

I’ve always resisted the urge to write a blog. There’s something plain wrong about mentally exerting yourself when you can just sit back and watch TV instead. I have however always enjoyed writing and have begun to miss it in the last few years. You see, when you’re doing a Commerce degree, the longest piece of prose ever required of you is probably no more than 100 words. Now, I’m not complaining by any means, but when you find yourself no longer able to string together two basic sentences, it’s probably not a good sign. It was with this revelation that I decided to start this blog.

So then, what will this blog be about?

Well, as the more perceptive of you have probably already realised, it’s mainly going to be about poker (yes, the blog’s title does give it away a touch). I play poker both as a hobby and as a source of income and I think it will be interesting to chronicle the ups and downs of this kind of lifestyle. A lot of serious players actually keep blogs nowadays, either to discuss hands with others or as a way of keeping themselves accountable for their play, and it was actually this that stimulated me to start a blog in the first place.

The second topic of this blog will be more traditional – my life as a 3rd year Commerce/Law student at the University of Sydney. I didn’t actually intend to blog about any non-poker content initially but I decided that it would be nice to have a yearbook of sorts to look back on. This is especially so since my first two years at university have gone by so incredibly quickly that I can barely remember what I did in all that time!

Anyway, I think that’s enough for a first entry. I’ll hopefully have something interesting to write about soon.