No WSOP Main Event
Date: Wed, Jun 25, 2008 Professional
I missed out on the WSOP freeroll final, placing 10th in the end (only one seat up for grabs). I guess this is pretty below par considering I set off fifth in chips, but I was playing pretty agressively with the ultra top heavy structure, as it didn't really matter if I busted 10th or 3rd. Perhaps I could have waited a bit longer before making the move I did, but I felt I was getting behind the field.
Two interesting hands, both played terribly by myself:
Hand1
Blinds are 200-400, and Mark raises in the cutoff to 800. This looks so suspicious, as it's not even an attempt to steal the blinds. I have AQ on the button, and kinda feel like folding already, but I decide to see a flop. The blinds get out of the way.
Flop comes Qh, Js, 6h.
This is normally a great flop for AQ, obviously. Mark bets out 1200 which again looks like it is screaming for a call. I have it in my head that he has AA-JJ and, after realising that it will cost my whole stack to call him down all the way on every street, I decide that it is either push or fold. I go with my read and fold and Mark shows Kh5h. Oh dear. I guess that is up there with some of my worst laydowns. At least it only cost me 800.
Hand2
Sonny limps for 600 UTG and I complete in the small blind with Qs6s.
Flop 7d, 8c, 10c
Check, Check
Turn 8h
I try and take the pot down by betting 1200 into the 1800 pot with my ropey gutshot draw.
Sonny flat calls, and I'm starting to think he has a club draw.
River is a 2h.
I think Sonny has missed his club draw so I push with my Queen high for my remaining 2800.
Sonny instacalls and I am toast. Of course I had read the situation perfectly, and when I started betting, Sonny had just turned his full house having flopped a set. :(
Not the best performance, as you can see. At least my strong recent cash form continued and I won £180 in the 4 hour game afterwards. I make that 5 out of 6 winning London sessions now (although some admittedly small wins), so I hope that can continue.
Good luck to Big Mark, who will be flying the flag for Loose Cannon in his usual PC way in the Main Event.
PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 2,515
Live Holdem Cash (1,501)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (6,316)
Home Games 540
Online Holdem Tournaments 56,628
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 330
Sundry 854
Rake (4,167)
64,804
Odds Aren't Always Everything
Date: Sat, Jun 21, 2008 Professional
I think I made a decision which was technically correct, but strategically woeful, during the LC League match on Thursday night. The situation was as follows:
12 players remain, average stack is 7k, my stack is 6.5k. Blinds are 400/800 (there are a surprising amount of players left at this stage) and I am in the big blind.
Action folds round to Tony, who is short stacked on 2.5k, pushes on the button and the small blind folds. I have 6s8d in the hole. I am being asked to invest 1700 to win the 3700 in the middle. If it was myself on the button in Tony's spot, I would push with any 2 cards, although I imagine Tony might be more patient than myself. However, even if he has an Ace or a King, as long as he doesn't dominate me I unquestionably have the odds to call. I weigh up my options and make the call. Tony has A5 unsuited, so I have about 43% chance of winning the hand. Unfortunately Tony hits his Ace and I am down to 4k and in casualty. I bust out soon after pushing 2d8d into Sonny's pocket rockets in the big blind.
The key point in this hand, is despite me making a correct call odds wise, it is highly likely I am underdog in the hand. If I lose the hand it reduces me from average stack to short stack. In tournaments I think it is sometimes worth giving up the odds, if an adverse outcome will have such a devastating effect on your tournament prospects. In a cash game, it is a call everytime, due to the fact you can go back into your pocket for more ammunition, but at that stage of a freezeout I think I made a poor decision there.
Tony went on to cash in 4th place - food for thought.
Monday is the final of our league, with a Main Event WSOP seat up for grabs. I think I go off about 5th biggest chip stack, so amongst the favourites, but with only one prize anything can happen, and the short stacks will be getting busy early. I have about 5k starting stack, but about 16 players will have 2k or less. There are 36 runners in total.
Goodness knows how work will take me asking for unpaid leave to play the Main Event if I win. In some ways, it would be better for me to get heads up and then offer my opponent the package in return for 50% equity. We shall see.
I won a modest £90 in the cash game after the tournament, so left a happy camper. Slowly but surely I am getting the live cash balance back towards the black......
PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 2,515
Live Holdem Cash (1,501)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (6,316)
Home Games 540
Online Holdem Tournaments 56,628
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 330
Sundry 854
Rake (4,167)
64,804
USA v Europe - Playing Mentalities
Date: Thu, Jun 19, 2008 Professional
After playing tens of hours of poker in Vegas over the last 2 weeks, I've come to the conclusion that there are marked differences in playing styles on either side of the Atlantic (in the live arena in anycase). Some of these differences I plan to use here in Europe over the next couple of months to see if they work, others I hope to use against the Americans next year in Vegas.
1) Pre-Flop Raising
In European no limit games, 3 or 3.5 times the big blind is the standard raise early in tournaments. In Vegas, this tends to be 2.25 or 2.5 instead. The key to the Vegas mentality is that if a person is going to play their hand, it makes little difference whether the raise is 3 or 2.5 times the blind. Interestingly, the real impact of this strategy, is that continuation bets on the flop, turn and river are reduced exponentially due to the caller having to put less in each time also.
Where this strategy is completely inappropriate, in my opinion, is later in tournaments where antes exist. consider a level at 400-800 with a running ante of 100. If you are in the BB having already invested 900 in the pot and somone opens for 2k, you only need to put in 1.2k to have the chance of winning 4.2k. It needs pretty bad hole cards, to make calling in this spot a bad proposition. Many of the american players did not take antes into account when choosing their opening raises.
Ironically, Vegas tournaments have more ante structures than anywhere else, due to their long, deep stacked structure. However, I think the Americans may have something on the raise sizes without antes, so I plan to try out the smaller raise/smaller continuation bets in the live UK arena over the next month or so and see how it goes. If I get too many callers, I'll re-visit this strategy.
2) Pre-Flop Hand Selection
Live American players seem to love picture cards. Whereas many europeans will play small suited connectors with relish, the US counterparts would prefer QJ, QK, KT etc. Interestingly, the big impact this had on my style, was that KQ no longer played like a trap hand over there. In the UK, when you play KQ you end up playing against AQ and AK. In the US, you are just as likely to be facing KJ and QJ.
3) Pre-Flop Mentality
If the initial raises are smaller in the States, re-raising is more problematic. The tables I played on, re-raised pre-flop as a matter of course. I was re-popped pre-flop by QJ three times during my stay for example. I cannot remember the last time this happened in Europe. Whilst I don't think this strategy is very good, it can be hard to play against as you never know where you are. A re-raise pre-flop in Europe generally means very strong hole cards, in the States in can just mean paint sometimes.
4) Post Flop Action
I experienced people betting strong "only when they had it" during the tournaments I played (except the deranged Equadorians at the Venetian). I am sure this is not true of top American players or the online crew, but I found the games in the US more straightforward than in Europe post flop. It was also very hard (in fact impossible) to get someone to put top pair or an overpair down. Interestingly I was check-raised far less frequently than in Europe.
5) Short Stack Strategy
Live Vegas players tend to wait till they have something of value before pushing the stack in. In several tournaments I pushed all in with nothing 3/4 times in a row when down to 10 BB and had everyone fold. With antes in play this returned me back to a respectable stack. This resulted in an interesting short stack strategy. If you found a player who raised frequently, you could push over the top of him short stacked with nothing and he would tend to fold, hence increasing your short stack much quicker than just stealing the blinds. Several times I snap called short stack all-ins when I assumed they were stealing, only to be shown AA or QQ.
6) Bubble Play
American players seemed more proficient than us at using the bubble time at tournaments to increase their stacks, if they were deep relative to the rest of the table, often taking huge risks 3 betting pre-flop and getting medium stacks to pass.
In summary, I think for now I will just start off trying the smaller pre-flop raises for a while (I really believe this has some merit in non-ante tournaments) and see how that goes, starting with the LC League night tonight. When I return to Vegas, I'll change my tactics after further analysis of the above.
PROFIT/(LOSS) USD 2008
Live Holdem Tournaments 2,625
Live Holdem Cash (1,881)
Live Omaha 110
Live "Professional" Tournaments (6,311)
Home Games 540
Online Holdem Tournaments 56,628
Online Holdem Cash 17,026
Online Omaha 330
Sundry 854
Rake (4,167)
64,539
Vegas Day 9 - That's all folks
Date: Sun, Jun 15, 2008 Professional
It's been a long 10 days at the tables. I just busted out of the Caesar's $500 deepstack on level 8. I made a good start when someone decided to call my all in with KK when they had AJ, but then busted out when I shoved over the top of someone with AA and they called with AQ, and it didn't hold up.
I also won $600 on the cash game last night, but I becoming increasingly grumpy at the tables now, and am not really enjoying the game after over-exposure. I have found myself becoming increasingly aggressive and moody towards young american players, and I guess that means it's time for a break.
Give it a few days and I'm sure I'll be back, but tomorrow I am going to go back to the spa and have a few nice meals out I think.
Next game for me will be back at Loose Cannon, my home ground as it were. I'll probably do some Vegas observations later on as well, because the style of play over here is completely different to England, both in terms of bet sizes, pre and post flop play.
VEGAS MINI P&L (FINAL) (USD)
Big Ticket Events +3165
Crapshoots (315)
Cash Games (200)
Total +2650
Vegas Day 8 - Pokered Out
Date: Sat, Jun 14, 2008 Professional
I am knackered from playing too much poker now. I was scheduled to play Binnions short handed, but I taking the day off and going to the spa for a massage. I might play a crapshoot or two tonight with the guys, if I feel up to it.
I've also decided not to play the WSOP $3k. I just think it's a bad value tournament when you only get 6k in starting chips. The only upside is the press coverage and the chance to play some big name players, but when you can get a 15k starting stack at Caesars on the same day for $500, it's clear where the best tournament is (although admittedly lower prize pool). I think Jalfont is playing it though.
I think next year I am going to come to Vegas during the main event. It's a $10k entry, but at least you get a 20k starting stack with a 2 hour clock. If I bust out of that I can play Caesars and the Venetian.
My player profile is up on hendon mob now, but alarmingly I seem to have a large American flag fluttering above my photo and be born in "Douglasville". I think there is another player who goes by my name who once cashed in a small circuit event, and they are getting us mixed up. I'll write in to get them to correct it I guess.
Vegas Day 7 - Venetian $2.5k - El River Blufferino
Date: Sat, Jun 14, 2008 Professional
I played the Venetian 2.5k today, but played poorly after a drunken late night (morning?) cash session with Volcano, Deven, Fluke and Jalfont. 20k starting stack, but the starting table contained 3 Equadorian riverboat gamblers, and I didn't win any of the gambles.
Incredibly, in 7 hours play, I got AQ in the hole once..............and that's it. Nothing else. Everything was literally K2, Q5, T4 etc etc. Hugely frustrating especially with Aces and Kings getting shown down left right and centre around me. I managed to get my stack back up to 22k, by blind agression, and hitting a flop here and there. Unfortunately I lost 12k of my chips running a huge river bluff with 2h5d. Hand was as follows:
He raises to 600. I call on the button with 2h5d. I decide I am going to play this hand like a monster, if the right scare cards come along.
Flop is 3d, 6s, Qd
He only bets 900 so I call, as I actually have a gutshot here and want to represent the diamond draw.
Turn is 10c
He bets 1500 and I call.
River is a diamond. The perfect scare card.
He bets 2k and re-raise to 8k with my 5 high. He thinks for ages, and muses out loud "got the flush huh?". He finally calls and I muck without even looking at his cards. Guy next to me says he showed KK.
After that I anted down for a while before shoving over an early raiser and 3 callers with 5d7h. Many players never seem to understand this move, but when you are 20k below stack average and have 12 big blinds, you might as well generate a huge pot with live cards to try and get back in the tournament. I get called in 2 spots, so there is tons of dead money in the pot, but unfortunately I don't connect and I am bust.
VEGAS MINI P&L (USD)
Big Ticket Events +3665
Crapshoots (215)
Cash Games (800)
Total +2550
Jimbo happiness level = + 2
Vegas Day 6 - $5k NLHE - Hands
Date: Sat, Jun 14, 2008 Professional
120 players left, 72 of us get paid. I have a couple of big stacks on my table, so I decide if I don't get cards I am going to put the medium stacks to decisions, to call off most of their chips short of the money.
Blinds start at 800/1600 with a running ante of 200 (4.2k per round)
My stack is 39k
Hand1
UTG raises to 5k. I am next to act and have pocket 9s. I decide I don't want to flat call here as 9s don't play well post flop. I decide to fold. Perhaps I could have pushed here, but an UTG raise generally is a strong hand, although watching this guy's play later he could easily have had nothing here.
Hand2
Medium stack raises my BB from the button to 5k. I shove with K8 offsuit and he folds.
Hand3
Big stack raises from early position, and I shove over the top of him with AK. He passes.
General observations - Americans play weird sometimes. Even with blinds of 1k/2k and running ante of 300 (i.e. nearly 6k per orbit) a stack of 30k will open raise to 5k (i.e. only 2.5 times the big blind and not taking into account the antes). I think this comes from watching Negreanu on TV too much, but of course he knows how to play flops better than them.
Hand4
Medium stack raises my BB to 5k. I shove with KQ and he folds.
90 players remain, 72 get paid - my stack = 45k.
I now don't play a hand for 2 orbits and go down to 33k.
Hand5
Big stack opens to 5k, medium stack flat calls. I shove with 4h6h. Open raiser folds, but the other guy stares at me without saying a word for ages. I stare at the felt in front of me and make sure I don't swallow. He passes.
We are now playing hand for hand with 73 players remaining. This goes on for about 90 minutes and we play one hand every 5 minutes. Everyone is stalking the tables, looking for the short stacks. I have about 42k so not in immediate danger, but the longer hand for hand goes on, the worse position I am in when the tournament "re-starts". During this period, the big stacks are correctly on the rampage, raising and re-raising most pots. I fold JJ and TT during this period. Whenever a short stack goes in, the always show down AA and KK.
BUBBLE BURSTS - medium stack shoves with AK and gets called by big stack with AQ. AQ gets a straight. Brutal.
The payout structure is very shallow - the prizes only begin going up significantly at 20th spot. Result = gamble time.
Hand6
First hand after bubble, I shove with Jd5s. All fold.
Hand7
Medium stack raises to 6k and I shove with KhQh in the BB. I calls with AQ and a King on the turn sorts me out;) Up to 90k. Volcano annoys the bloke even more from the rail, by shouting "Good crack of the AQ Jimbo".
Hand8
Blinds are now 1.5k/3k with a 500 running ante. It costs 9k a round. I have about 70k, so effectively 7 big blinds. I shove UTG with AhTh and all fold.
I don't play 2 orbits and dribble down to 60k. In the emergency ward now.
Hand9
I am in the BB and a guy who has been raising many pots raises as usual to 10k. I decide I am going to push on him no matter what I have. I look down at KdJd, which is useful if he has a small pair so at least I'll be racing, rather than having to shove with 2s5h or something. Anyhow, he calls and has AK and there is no miracle this time, and I am bust in 44th place. I think I was unlucky there - the amount of pots he was opening KJ is going to be stronger than his holding quite a bit there. Bad timing I guess.
My payout is $12,712 - not too shabby.
VEGAS MINI P&L (USD)
Big Ticket Events +6165
Crapshoots (215)
Cash Games (800)
Total +5050
Jimbo happiness level = +4