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Online Poker Blog - Plan3t Gong    Friends

Intellipoker Avatars Gone?

Date: Sun, Oct 5, 2008 Internet Tournament

Baffled, playing Stars a little over the weekend and the lack of Intellipoker icons / avatars hit me... anyone have any ideas what happened?

Mark

EDIT (Several Hours Later!)

- Thinking about it, what happened to all those Cashman Brian avatars too? And what about the rash of autumn-2006 usernames along the lines of fck-fisk... where are they now??

Anyway.

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A Hand On Plan3t Gong?!??!

Date: Fri, Oct 3, 2008 Internet Tournament

Only post the occasional hand here - really prefer to challenge the old brain cells in slightly different ways! Well, last night this hand came up, actually happy with my play - which was to fold!

What I thought was interesting was the critical role that stack sizes play in this decision, and more importantly, how the fact that many opponents are more interested in their cards only and are not taking stack-size dynamics into account affects decision making here...

Anyway, the Party nightly 18k gtd $5o+$5, started with 420ish and are now down to 18 players. I am in the small blind with a stack of XYZ (!) and am dealt AcKc... the blinds are 6000 / 3000 with a smallish ante (200?), here is the action ahead of me:

UTG+1 (average to tight) with around 30,000 chips open shoves.... folds to
C/O (fairly loose but not crazy) with around 80,000 chips who doubles the raise to 60k
Next Button (tight with raises, will limp) with around 110,000 chips shoves over the top...

... so it is me to act in the SB with my lovely AcKc and XYZ chips. Here is my thought process at the time, range for UTG+1 = 66+ A10+ KQ... range for CO is tighter 1010+ AQs+... for the button to see all this action and still shove he needs to beat COs range - I'm giving him AA, KK or AK here with a very small % chance of QQ.

... my AK is well behind this range and potentially in worse shape as aces are somewhat likely to be in the hands of my opponents. On the other hand the odds are great and the winner of this pot will be in great shape going into the final table.

Anyhow, I'm a self-proclaimed nit and folded my hand.... my mid-to-small stack being the main reason.

What I'd like to get readers thinking about here is how small a stack (in terms of blinds) would I need to make this a call? On the other side of the coin would this be a call with a large stack of say 200k or 250k chips... thinking about the chances of knocking out a competitor with a decent stack just in time to own the final table bubble!

Will be pondering this one myself today.

The tournament? 16th, bah... maybe next time.

GL at the tables, Mark

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Poker's Other Gap Concept...

Date: Thu, Oct 2, 2008 Internet Tournament

The phrase 'Gap Concept' in poker-speak was coined by David Sklansky to describe the phenominon that you need a better hand to call a raise than to open a pot for a raise yourself in poker tournaments.

For todays 'make you think' piece I'd like to introduce a second poker Gap Concept that most of us experience to some extent.

This is the gap between what you plan to do and what you actually do in the wider sense of the word. Breaking it down into several possibilities all relating to the higher level viewpoint on the game:

- The gap between the hand histories you plan to review and the number that you do.

- The gap between the improvement that joining a training site will give you and watching those vids with half-an eye while playing / surfing.

- The gap between your intention to specialise / grind / build that bankroll and your real bahaviour at the tables which involves taking shots, changing games frequently or even playing 3 different kinds of poker at the same time.

- The gap between your self-belief that Tilt is something that affects 'other people' and the facts of the matter... that you lose a bunch of chips after a bad beat.

- The gap between your intentions when it comes to sound bankroll management and your actual buy-in levels.

- The gap between your assumption that you are skilled just 'unlucky' and the reality at the tables (particularly for those who do not actively try and improve their game through study etc)

Had a few more of these but that should be enough to clarify my point.

Intentions and reality do not always match in the world of poker... what are you going to do about making sure that the reality of your success has come from your initial plan??

GL at the tables, Mark

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Poker Affiliate Business - End Of Month Update September

Date: Wed, Oct 1, 2008 Internet Tournament

Another busy month has passed in the poker business - a 'doh!' moment hit me too during September. More on that in a moment, first some highlights from last month.

- Got the Fish-O-Meter launched on SNG Planet, the combo of newsletter, press release and blog posts got 1200ish eyeballs on the new tool on day #1... great result and traffic to the site growing all the time!

- Completed the new 'Mixed Games' strategy section over at Omaha Planet.

- Redesigned the layout of Poker Bonusz Klub (our Hungarian portal) to be a little less orange, needs more de-organing still... trouble is that suggesting this to E is the equivalent of insulting her entire family, friends and pets (past and future). Oh we added a bunch more content here too.

- Great progress with the Russian version of SNG Planet with the translation 80% done now and the pages going up in dreamweaver at the moment (on holiday in the UK from Monday so a small delay to the launch of this one)... also have a solid start to the Romanian translation.

... the rest is just the day-to-day running and organic growth stuff... new content, links and optimisation all takes time.

Ok, the 'doh!' moment.

My calls to action are too polite.

Yes, I'm a Brit (although this is the only site where I write in my native language - the rest are all in that simplified US version of English!!). being a Brit comes with a certain level of politeness... and this was the problem with my calls to action.

For example I write a strategy article which would work well with Pokerstars offerings. As an affiliate I am hoping that a percentage of readers click the banner at the bottom of the article. Now, the request was there in many of the articles, but in such a shy way - 'PokerStars is the largest online poker site and offers a great selection of games at a variety of buy-in levels' kind of thing.

What is required is not this British politeness but something direct.

My challenge is to be direct without being spammy or over-commercial sounding (after all the sites are build on the premise of quality). So, we have a project underway at the moment to review and improve the calls to action (in addition to enouraging people to visit certain articles).

The calls to action try to balance a 'do this!' with a reason which does not insult any readers intelligence.... so:

Click the banner below now to find out just what makes Poker Stars the most popular online poker room by a huge margin... use Marketing / Bonus code PAWSUB35 / FIRST2008 to claim your free 100% match bonus to $50.

Some start with the bonus and then say 'check them out for yourself now by... ' and still others focus on a specific area of the site in question.

I have been too polite with my calls to action - time to shake off this Britishness and be far more forward!!

GL at the tables, Mark

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Those Who Love To Call, Float

Date: Tue, Sep 30, 2008 Internet Tournament

If there is one generalisation that would describe losing / inexperienced / bad (delete as applicable) poker players it is that they call too often... sure there are times when a call is undoutedly the best play - but as a principle... euccchh.

Poker strategy follows fashions... 4 betting is the new 3-betting, UTG is the new place to steal blinds from - and now any player with a weeks worth of 2c / 4c no-limit experience is a master of the 'float'... calling in position on the flop with nothing, with the intention of taking the pot on a later street if your opponent shows weakness.

While good players spot situations where a float is a nice play - it is my opinion that far too many calling stations are using this 'strategy' as a (poor) excuse to do what they really wanted to do anyway - to call. Whereas before they would call without the odds with a gutshot and 1-over simply because they liked to call... now they are a strategy master... with their cunning float play!

Back to fashion... mentioned this for a good reason - since the latest floating craze is not the first strategy to play into the hands of horrible weak calling stations. Oh no - those of us who have been around poker for a while will recall the (excellent but alas much abused) Gigabet Dialemma... using those extra chips in a tournament above the table average to take (somewhat) minis ev risks when the big stack would give you many positive situations later... a callers dream strategy right... I knew I was beaten with my 22 on a 9-10-j-Q-A board with 4 spades, but my call was due to Gigabets theory...

Anyway, something new will come along soon - in the meantime todays food for poker thought is to make sure the situation is right for floating... and you are not just making a thin excuse to call.

GL at the tables, Mark

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Tournament Success And A Vision Of Poker Hell

Date: Mon, Sep 29, 2008 Internet Tournament

Some long overdue success to report from a few games at the virtual tables this weekend.

Beforehand an accolade! Well almost - an 'honourable mention' in Bill Rinni's list of the best 10 poker blogs for www.MeltedFelt.com , my satire blog. Bill has been online since the rest of us were in blogging short trousers (erm, or something) and has earned the respect his writing receives... so, great to get a mention!

Successes! Started 6 tournaments on Saturday evening across various sites... in reverse order here are my 4 cashes.

Tilt Pot-Limit $10+$1 HA (half PL holdem half PLO)- 11th for my buy-in back and bus-fare home

Stars $10+$1 PLO - 45th (ish?) for double my buy-in... rivered twice in this by the same idiot after getting in on the turn as an 80-odd% fave...(thats where the money comes from in poker (repeat))... hmmm

Stars Nightly 80k Gtd $50+5 - 16th for $450 (always disappointing to miss a final table in a large field tournament buy hey, did my best with 2 separate comebacks after running KK into A9 (grrrr) and then kk into aa (baaahhhh) at critical times in the last 50-ish ... oh I satellited in for $7 too!

Party Poker Speed $10+$1 - 1st for $961, bit of a push-fest late... which played to my SNG experience somewhat. Helped by opponents who did not understand pot-odds / any-2 situations... but great, first semi-decent cash in ages.

So, after 1 week the Thailand fun has increased... going to put aside half of this money and use the rest towards investing in the business. With the $100 bonus cleared at Party this makes the Thailand fund after week 1= $750 (might make a side menu entry for this later - the goal is $5k by the end of Jan for Erika and I to have a few weeks in my favourite country!)

Anyway, don't want to turn a cheerful post negative - so take this as 'tongue in cheek' but really, poker hell last night... I was close to the $100 from Party but not close enough... requiring 220 more 'base points' to release and having one day to do it.... thats about 4 hours of 8-tabling.

OMG! It was hell... 'forced' to do it every hand hurt, the clock slowed to a crawl every decision seemed twice as hard as it should have been.... in short the fun was gone. Might as well have been doing some data-entry job somewhere (and if you have never done this sort of thing then I recommend hard study to ensure that this remains the case).

So, my question for today is how do you cash game players do it??? I mean, respect for your deep stacked skills and all that good stuff - but this is really brain frying stuff!!

GL at those tables, Mark

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10 Commandments Of Poker #9 - Small Favourite / Big Dog

Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2008 Internet Tournament

Nearly there with the 10 (well in fact there are 11) 'Commandments of Poker' as penned my Reubens and Ciaffone back in 1997.... the theme of all of these posts has been that - while poker has evolved beyond recognition in the 11 years since the commandments were set out, they are as true today as ever.

Will link to the original post at the bottom of this one.

#9 Is an important commandment... and one I can personally relate to as it took me a while in my early days of playing to figure this one - it is especially important in SNGs and when all-in (or potentially all in) with MTTs... in cash games it will lose you money, but at least you can reload.

Here is an example, from a SNG on Carbon recently, I was short and dealt something along the lines of Q8s on the button - 5-left - and the SB calls me with a pair of 3's... now,, this call may be ok (doubt it somehow!)... this is not the point, the point is that against my entire range of pushing hands there was only 2 hands which he was a big favourite (22 and A-2). This is a classic small favourite / big dog scenario (in fact very mundane - only memorable for the chat-box abuse which followed!!)... against most of my range he was a 55% favourite... against those higher pairs a 80% dog.

Fine, away from SNG calling ranges for the moment. There was an element of this hand which was far more important than the hands. My opponent called. Yep, he willingly took a flip - if you are the one betting you have another chance to win the hand... so this logic does not apply.

We could construct many hands which fit in with this commandment depending on your opponents ranges and the exact situation... for example your opponent raises with 88+ AQ+ and you hold 99 or AQ... you hold a set on a straightflush flop... that kind of thing.,

liked this commandment and think it could be useful for beginning players, before you find yourself in a situation like those above ask whether calling the initial bet will result in a situation where you stand to be a small favourite or a big dog!

Gl at the tables, Mark

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New Party Poker Software Client Reviewed - On Video!

Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2008 Internet Tournament

Well, at the risk of making a fool of myself here is a video of the New Party Poker Software Client... in the interests of full disclosure this does contain a plug for my bonus code SNGPLANET (hey, got to have some reward in exchange for doing this!). The quality is a little fuzzy - but you should be able to get the gyst of the improved new party poker software client!



Gl at the tables, Mark

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Poker Affiliate Business - Going Interactive

Date: Wed, Sep 24, 2008 Internet Tournament

Launching a new 'widget' today over on SNG Planet (link below), its a little cheesy, fun - yet actually has a serious message, oh - and a lot of content!

This is consistant with something I have been saying here at Plan3t Gong for a loooong time... that moving beyond the 'big-2' poker sites actually reveals a whole world of fishy, profitable poker sites.

The actual tool is very simple, choose US / Non, Your preferred games and your current bankroll and press the 'Find Me Some Fish' button.

This gives 3 choices - along with an explanation of why each was chosen for those criteria... here is the hidden work... each of the 32 combos has 3 choices at 80 to 120 words each, seems like a lot of writing to me!!

Anyway, while this is aimed at the less experienced players - hopefully the message is clear enough for those of us who have been around for a while... time to take action and find some fish online.

Here is the link: Loose, Easy, Fishy Poker Sites

As usual feedback from Plan3t Gong readers is valuable and welcome - either via comment or you can mail me via the site.

GL at the tables, Mark

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Protecting Blinds And A Small Victory

Date: Mon, Sep 22, 2008 Internet Tournament

A small victory this morning... on our way to the office we pass a religious nut of some sort (we think a Hari Krisna but could be wrong), anyway a very persistant one! He hassled us with leaflets so often that it got to me - so a plan was hatched.

Next time he hassled us I gave him what could be called a right earful in my angriest manner (was acting if you like as it was pre-meditated rather than any real spontaneous anger).

So, did not see him for a week... this morning we approach him - he gets his leaflets ready... then sees who it is and (get this) walks on by refusing to make any eye contact (I was ready to grin!). A victory to my mind anyway.

Actually reminds me of when I worked in IBM, in order to get to some huge target for a certain area of electronic trading it was my role to 'approve' any exceptions to a process (will not bore you with the details). Thinking about it I was ideal for this role, which involved saying 'no' to some very senior people... so every day people used to 'escalate me' (report me to increasingly senior management for refusing to approve their exceptions)... and every day I would make life as difficult as possible for the people involved.

Now, this sounds like anti-corporate behaviour - but it was not. In fact I was very loyal to the company (most of us got brainwashed that way!!). My idea was that making life difficult for my colleagues internally made them think twice next time an approval was required... instead of 'no problem we'll get Mark to approve an exception'... the mindset changed to 'sh1t, Mark will never approve this one - better get the external supplier to send electronically instead'. What I did be being deliberately difficult was to get my internal colleages to do my job - which was to make the suppliers tow the 'e-business only' line...

Anyway, those days are gone for me (and that feels good!). The reason for sharing was to get you thinking about blind defense... after all there is a balance between always giving up those blinds and always fighting back.

- In cash games those blinds are such a small portion of your stack that defending them for its own sake is hardly worth it... yet cumulatively they add up so you have to defend some time.

- In SNGs this is risky, since the chips you lose when it does not work can be critical to your fold-equity later in the game, here it can even pay to let the SB complete a few times at the lower levels and then shove over his completes once the blinds become high (not too often, you'll end up getting trapped!)

- MTTs are the sweet spot for this kind of pre-emptive difficulty... especially when this does not involve too many chips (the old call then check behind the turn routine). Getting a reputation for being a difficult blind to steal can not do any harm... this will give you the advantage of knowing that any LP raises are more likely to be geniune hands. Something to think about at least.

GL at the tables, Mark

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Life, Poker and Business

Date: Sun, Sep 21, 2008 Internet Tournament

Ahah, failed to spot some important information on the Party reload bonus... that it must be completed within 8 days (ugh!). This is not going to be possible with my very busy schedule - I hope to take a couple of hundred of the $500 available though, and those tables are also pretty fishy (for example nice pot at $50 PLO when my top full was paid off by both a flush and a straight - yep on a paired board!!).

Got a hectic period coming up shortly. First a trip to the UK starting on the 6th Oct... as soon as we are back we move flat and office at the same time. Since our flat needs work to sort out some damp we will move into a new one while still in the old office... once the work is done this flat will become the new office. Easy, nothing can go wrong, at all, ever.

Business-wise we are about to release a new widget on SNG Planet which takes your inputs and finds you the loosest / fishiest tables. Almost done (with more than 8,ooo words of possible outputs written already!!) and will announce / link here early next week (we are also going to do a press release etc for this one). Also plan on getting a 'mixed games' section up on Omaha Planet next week.

Kind of deciding on where Plan3t Gong goes as we get to the end of this year. While every blog evolves over time I feel like this one should have a more definite direction - with less time to do the 'hard-core' strategy here the options include breaking out the business side into a new blog, starting to look outward more often (links to articles / posts all over the web), or even retiring this one completely... ending on a high etc. No decision yet, we will see.

Gl at the tables, Mark

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Another 'Challenge' - The Plan3t Gong Thailand Mission

Date: Fri, Sep 19, 2008 Internet Tournament

Well, challenges - in poker terms at least - are not usually my thing... since becoming part of the poker business my hours of play have been seriously curtailed - when not working I kind of want to get away from the virtual felt (not to say I have stopped loving the game of course!)

The last Plan3t Gong challenge was a micro-stakes one - after finding a forgotten $6 on Pacific, pretty sure I doubled it before getting bored with seeing 10-way flops...

The 'Thailand Poker Bonus Challenge' is a little larger - and has a great 'get out' clause too. It was triggered by writing about poker bonuses all the time... and, erm, not actually taking advantage of them myself (!). So, I have pulled up my proverbial socks and plan on going on a bonus mission each month from now until February - by which time I want to have an extra $5k in hand... enough for a few weeks of trekking, diving and generally enjoying massages on the beach (a feeling that Erika will add shopping, shopping and more shopping to the list too....).

So, deposited $500 on Party last night to clear their 100% reload to get things started. Off to a flying start when my full-wrap + FD on the flop in PLO failed to hit any of its 2 zillion outs and lost to flopped middle set (opponent thought he was actually a favourite judging by his chat - don't worry, I restrict my strategy lessons to websites / blogs and did not tell him!).

Anyway - will update once a week or so, not going to take over the whole blog - $1k a month should be do-able even with my busy schedule.

Oh, the 'Get Out Clause' in the challenge... thats a good one. Yes, if I fail to meet the challenge then we are going anyway - worked bloody hard building up the business this year, got to have some sort of reward!!

GL at the tables, Mark

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Poker Commandments #7 and #8

Date: Tue, Sep 16, 2008 Internet Tournament

Going to speed up with Reuben and Ciaffone's 10 Commandments Of Big Bet Poker this week to finish them off... link to the original post here (with a breakdown of the 10 liberally sprinkled over the interviening month!) http://plan3tgongpoker.blogspot.com/2008/08/reuben-and-ciaffones-10-commandments-of.html

As a quick aside I got a Battle of The Planets bonus from Stars yesterday... just a small one! Had been playing a few low level SNGs to clear the WCOOP bonus (yeah, still doing it - just not enough hours in the day to get the damn thing cleared!!)... anyway a small but nice surprise.

Right then, commandments #7 and #8 are....

- Don't give or receive aggravation and don't get tricky against a weak player....

Number #7 is very familiar to any online player... the anonymity of the chat box meaning that some scawny, spotty 18 year old suddenly turns into a 'tough guy' (incidentally my favourite these days is when some kid says 'lucky boy'... since I am closer to 40 than 30 I take this as a compliment to my youthfull good looks, oh wait a moment, its online... doh).

For me the question to ask is does this aggro chat affect you - STOP - before you say 'of course not', think for a minute or two about any situations in which chat has made you want to 'teach a lesson' or 'take that idiots stack', where some comment has made you call a big bet suspecting a bluff when you might not have done otherwise... if you have changed in any way in this situation then the chat has affected you...

Hey, the idea of this blog is to make you think rather than suggest remedies... but moving table / switching off chat / using the ignore button are all viable if you find your behaviour changes.... if you are anything like me then 99% of the time the aggro-chat will be nothing more than an amusing sideshow - and 1% it will get under your skin... and strangely that 1% need not be when you are a target of the chat (some idiot 'table professor' for example)... anyway, move if possible, no need to let it cost you bets.

Giving aggro is a given for most of us. For those few who find it fun my observation is that the aggro given actually results in the negative effects rather than any benefits... every time I see some young chronic-masterbator berating the table 'fish' I physically cringe - STOP - think about this one... why the hell would you insult someone who is donating money to the table and make them leave... oh my.

Long Post Alert!

Oh well, want to get these commandments done... so onto number #8 'Don't Get Tricky Against A Weak Player'.

Like all of these points this one seems obvious, but seeming obvious alone does not mean that we are not guilty of this 'sin' at some point or other. We all know how to beat weak players right? You keep the pot small until you have a hand and then build it as fast as the individual opponent will allow... you bluff less (smallish c-bets are fine) and you take them to value city.

The great thing about playing a weaky is that they will tend to slowplay monsters, call with a range from top pair down plus draws and fold junk. The slowplaying is a huge advantage to a thinking player... a weaky will be so scared of losing their opponents with those aces that they will give you a great cheap shot to outdraw them... and then whine that online poker is rigged of course.

Level 2+ thinking is pointless against many players, whatever hand you think you have convincingly represented throughout the betting rounds is meaningless against someone only playing their own cards... next time you say 'how could you call with just XYZ there' ask yourself this question instead - what evidence was previously available to tell me that this player was not going to fold this hand... it will help. Same in SNGs, next time someone calls your all-in on the bubble with K3 off do not blame them for a 'bad play' try to work out how you could have predicted this for similar situations in the future (ok, not always that easy but the main point is about taking responsibility for your actions rather than blaming a weak opponent for your losses).

Anyway, hopefully a couple of things to think about... time for me to get back to focusing on the poker business!

Cheers, Mark

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Misc Pokerage Update

Date: Sun, Sep 14, 2008 Internet Tournament

Books, Sunday Strategy and Stars VIP Levels On Display might be a suitable subtitle for this misc update... first the books:

Decided that what the world is currently missing is a PLO e-book for beginners (think 'Comedy Of Errors' with 4 hole-cards). So finally got off my but and ordered a couple more PLO books to get some more ideas... Hwang's book and Reubens 'How Good is your PLO' too... sent these to the UK where I'll pick them up in early Oct along with those from Stars which already arrived (the mathematics of poker, the poker mindset and 'kill everyone'). Expect the e-book by late Nov depending on other projects.

Was just playing a few SNGs... crazy at the lower levels always, but on a Sunday they seem twice as crazy! This got me thinking whether there should be any special 'Sunday Strategy Adjustments' we could make??

The tried and trusted bluff less and value bet more needs to be extended for sure.... but I also managed to keep a large chunk of my stack on 2 occasions with AKs... normally I'd play these super-aggressively in the middle stages, but against opponents who are never folding a pair of 7's on a 5 overcard, straight and flush heavy board there is little point stacking off. Having said that we also need to get value of from the 'But my ace-6 was sooooted' brigade'... have to think about this one.

Finally I note that you can now show opponents your VIP level on Stars with different coloured stars on your avatar... many people have already taken this option and are showing the world how much of a 'VIP' they really are! My question is.... why?

Why would you give this information to opponents (telling them you are experienced in many cases)... what benefit could it have??

Anyway, each to their own.

GL at the tables, Mark

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