Poker Blogs by Popularity

Poker Blogs by Type

Poker Blogs by Wonk

Recent Blogs

Poker Articles by Blog

Write about Poker. Read about Life. Welcome to PokerWonks.com.

crazy eights    Friends

How not to check it down

Date: Thu, May 1, 2008 Internet

Here is how not to check it down.


Full Tilt Poker Game #6243960089: $6 + $0.50 Sit & Go (Turbo) (47524616), Table 1 - 120/240 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:58:16 ET - 2008/05/01
Seat 1: LDCrayne (660)
Seat 3: JDaGr8 (4,070)
Seat 4: mikesworld (5,870)
Seat 5: basatagirl (2,900)
basatagirl posts the small blind of 120
LDCrayne posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to basatagirl [Kh 6h]
JDaGr8 folds
mikesworld has 15 seconds left to act
mikesworld calls 240
basatagirl calls 120

I just call because I'm hoping shorty will push and we'll check it down and knock him out.

LDCrayne raises to 660, and is all in
mikesworld calls 420
basatagirl calls 420

So I call and obv. so does the other guy. He seems to have understood not to a/ bet me out of the pot first time round and b/ shove and make me fold after the other guy pushes.

*** FLOP *** [Kd 2c Qs]

I have top pair but I don't bet. The big stack has shown every sign of being retarded, and I'd hate for him to push and make me fold.

But truth is, even if he did, I could call, because I'd need to be super unlucky to bubble.

Anyway, I don't mind checking it down. Just in case allin guy has KT and the other guy would have made two pair on the turn or river.

basatagirl checks
mikesworld checks
*** TURN *** [Kd 2c Qs] [7h]
basatagirl checks
mikesworld has 15 seconds left to act
mikesworld checks

But really, thinking about it. I'd need allin guy to have K7 and retard to have Q2, or some similar parlay, to bubble. Remember, if bigstack beats us both, I come third because I started with more chips. Still, best not to fold the other guy out, just in case.


*** RIVER *** [Kd 2c Qs 7h] [Qd]
basatagirl checks
mikesworld bets 960
basatagirl folds

So he has to have a queen, right?

Uncalled bet of 960 returned to mikesworld
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mikesworld shows [Ac Td] a pair of Queens

No.

He bet me out of the sidepot with no pair.

I mean, wtf? Did he think that I call with a worse hand? Does he think, hmmm, if I fold out a better hand, I'll be ahead of the other guy and win? Well, he must.


LDCrayne shows [As 2h] two pair, Queens and Twos

But he doesn't beat him.

And I went on to bubble. In a just universe, the retard would have bubbled himself. And he nearly did. But he sucked out on the key hand, and finally sucked out on me when I pushed over a SB limp with 33 and his QJ caught a J.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh

Date: Tue, Apr 29, 2008 Internet

I'm totally beginning to hate QQ though:

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-66571070-9
played at "Kampala" for USD TC from 2008-04-29 21:50 until 2008-04-29 21:51
Seat 1: oruga2000 ($1,470 in chips)
Seat 2: Koo23 ($1,340 in chips)
Seat 3: sniperr ($1,250 in chips)
Seat 4: Dr Zen ($3,280 in chips)
Seat 5: peter-klaus ($1,060 in chips)
Seat 6: mizmik1 ($1,630 in chips)
Seat 8: cigar202 ($1,450 in chips)
Seat 9: dyonisos40 ($2,060 in chips)
Seat 10: Hugotheboss1 ($1,460 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
peter-klaus posts blind ($10), mizmik1 posts blind ($20).

PRE-FLOP
cigar202 folds, dyonisos40 calls $20, Hugotheboss1 folds, oruga2000 folds, Koo23 calls $20, sniperr folds, Dr Zen bets $100, peter-klaus folds, mizmik1 folds, dyonisos40 folds, Koo23 calls $80.

FLOP [board cards: JD JC 6D ]
Koo23 checks, Dr Zen bets $200, Koo23 bets $1,240 and is all-in, Dr Zen calls $1,040.

He has KJ.

I mean, WTF?

BTW, Father Luke, if you're reading this, don't ever fold to his push on the flop. Yeah, this time he has the jack. But a lot of the time he doesn't.

***

I'm having a shitting morning this morning. I pushed over five limpers at t50 with JJ, got called by AK and he sucked out.

I am card dead for a whole other tourney, chip up with some nice shortstack play, then hit two pair on the flop and get it in with a flush draw. Which made.

Sigh. Some days, no matter what you do, you lose.

***

No sooner had I posted that than it got worse.

I raise 200 over a limper at t50. I have KK. SB calls, limper calls. Flop comes J97. I bet 400 into the 600 pot.

SB calls. I know he has a straight draw. It's obvious.

Turn T. I should just give it up. But obv. I don't. I push, he shows A8s.

I mean, wtf? He called a raise pre with a raggy ace. Then a big bet on the flop with a gutshot and an overcard.

Poker gods, punish these idiots. Don't send them their straight cards.

If you must, send me the queen that resucks on them. For fuck's sake, it's just not right that all my big pairs get cracked so much and by such bad players.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Meeeeeeeh

Date: Tue, Apr 29, 2008 Internet

The poker gods are cruel, and the cruellest thing they do is not to punish idiots. I find that the hardest thing in poker. Not so much the bad beat, but that the other player was just so stupid.

Example follows.

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-66568958-14
played at "Kabul" for USD TC from 2008-04-29 20:14 until 2008-04-29 20:15
Seat 1: Dr Zen ($1,320 in chips)
Seat 2: triops ($1,445 in chips)
Seat 3: mc stepper ($2,305 in chips)
Seat 4: doc drool ($450 in chips)
Seat 5: frozenman76 ($1,815 in chips)
Seat 6: grippenlake1 ($1,290 in chips)
Seat 7: RecTimer ($1,770 in chips)
Seat 8: RassRodz ($1,205 in chips)
Seat 9: washington6 ($1,760 in chips)
Seat 10: jeepers113 ($1,640 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
frozenman76 posts blind ($15), grippenlake1 posts blind ($30).

I have QQ.


PRE-FLOP
RecTimer folds, RassRodz calls $30, washington6 folds, jeepers113 folds, Dr Zen bets $150, triops folds, mc stepper folds, doc drool folds, frozenman76 folds, grippenlake1 folds, RassRodz calls $120.

I have a bad feeling. QQ is close to the losingmost hand for me. I'd be running a lot better if it just occasionally won me a decent pot.

FLOP [board cards: JC 5D TS ]
RassRodz bets $200, Dr Zen bets $1,170 and is all-in, RassRodz calls $855 and is all-in.

So I'm not all that scared of his bet. He can have JT or a set, obv. but I'm never folding QQ on an undercard flop.

His call of my push is atrocious though. He has KsJs. How can he think he's good there? He is only beating the bluff. Why put me on a bluff though? Leaving aside that I'm never bluffing in that spot, why would he even think I was?

Well, obviously he doesn't think at all.


TURN [board cards: JC 5D TS 6S ]
RIVER [board cards: JC 5D TS 6S 3S ]

Believe it or not, this guy gave me shit after this hand. He felt like a genius.

Maybe he is. Because it seems to me that the right play against me is to get it in with absolutely any shit you have, because you are going to suck out way more than expectation.

UPDATE: Still, I finished third, which means I took that guy's buyin. Yes, I came back from 115 chips. It's always worth fighting.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

A bad bluff

Date: Fri, Apr 25, 2008 Internet

This is an interesting hand, which is illustrative of a principle that can save you quite a lot of heartache and chips in poker.

I am familiar with Flutterbies, but I'm not in this hand. What we've seen in this tourney is that she called a raise with TT, then pushed a flop with a T on it that looked like it might have hit the raiser. It had, and that's why she has 2.7K.

I just played Orezza and I know that he's a LAGgy type who seems able to understand what's going on most of the time. He made a couple of insane calls on the bubble though. He's been reasonably quiet in this tourney. He becomes aggressive when he has a stack; I know that much.

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-66286044-27
played at "Dayton" for USD TC from 2008-04-25 21:52 until 2008-04-25 21:53
Seat 2: Flutterbies ($2,722 in chips)
Seat 3: Dr Zen ($1,525 in chips)
Seat 4: sgruno ($1,470 in chips)
Seat 5: grippenlake1 ($2,765 in chips)
Seat 6: vaktis100 ($1,710 in chips)
Seat 7: XXstevencXX ($1,365 in chips)
Seat 8: rumram ($375 in chips)
Seat 10: orezza2B ($3,068 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
Dr Zen posts blind ($25), sgruno posts blind ($50).

PRE-FLOP
grippenlake1 folds, vaktis100 calls $50, XXstevencXX folds, rumram folds, orezza2B bets $300, Flutterbies calls $300

So we note that she has called a decent raise. She's not as tight as she should be, but she has played tightly this tourney, and has not been involved much. No reason to think that Orezza doesn't have at least some sort of hand here.

Dr Zen folds, sgruno folds, vaktis100 folds.

I have rags and fold.

FLOP [board cards: 7C 8C QH ]
orezza2B checks, Flutterbies checks.

TURN [board cards: 7C 8C QH TH ]
orezza2B bets $100, Flutterbies calls $100.

RIVER [board cards: 7C 8C QH TH 8D ]
orezza2B checks, Flutterbies bets $900, orezza2B calls $900.

When they turn over their cards Orezza shows Ah7h and Flutterbies AK. She blows up at him for his call. What a donkey! But is he?

No. His call is reasonable and her bluff is not. This is why. Bluffs are stories. The story you are telling must be credible. What is Flutterbies' story here: "I have an 8 "? "I have QT and slowplayed it"? "I trapped you with J9"?

None is very credible. She's a tight player and called in the blinds. There aren't many 8s in her range. A8s maybe, but that was a big raise to call with that. And can an 8 call on the turn? If she played a straight or QT slow from fear of folding him out with a raise on the turn, why put in such a big bet now?

Basically, Orezza only needs to think "the 8 didn't improve her and she played the hand really weakly, so mostly this is a bluff" and he can call with his pair. I think I would call too in his spot, against this player.

One thing that might have tipped Flutterbies off that bluffing was not a good idea was that the guy put in such a big raise pre. This is not a sign that he's tight, and if he's not tight, he's not folding anything on the riv. The principle here is: make sure your bluff tells a credible story. What's credible varies, depending on the opponent, but if you can only really be bluffing, most villains will call.

For me the tourney ended in the money. I busted pushing A8 into Orezza. He called with 76s, which I suppose is not as bad as it could be (I had 1.3K and he had over 8K), and he turned and rivered 7s.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Lesson: domination

Date: Fri, Apr 25, 2008 Internet

Sadly not chicks with whips, which would be fun, but an important concept in poker, which it's worth understanding before moving on to starting hands.

There are two reasons that we start with understanding hands you can end up with, rather than with hands you begin with. One is that not knowing what beats what is such a severe handicap that you must rectify it. The other is that understanding that hand values are relative is important in poker.

AA is the best starting hand. Everything else is drawing to beat it preflop. But when the flop comes three of a black suit, you have red aces, and half the table is going nuts with betting, your AA is junk. Even before the flop, the relative value of hands depends a lot on what hands they can make. (Even more so in games such as Omaha, where starting values are closer but how well your hand will play postflop is crucial.)

You'd often rather be in a hand with QJs than with K7o. Okay, the king high hand has greater starting value. But QJs makes many more straights and flushes. Importantly -- and we noted this in the lesson about hand rankings -- using both cards to make a hand will tend to make your hands stronger. On a TKAr board, QJs makes the nuts, and no one else is likely to have it. On a 9TJQr board, K7 does not make the nuts (AK does), and anyone else with a K at least "chops" (splits the pot) with you. On a 5689r board though, you are only beaten by T7, which is on the whole an unlikely hand for anyone outside the blinds to have. The point is, hand value is relative: if others are unlikely to have hands that beat you, your hand is strong.

Now imagine you have AJ. This is a reasonably good starting hand (not as good as most donkeys think though). Why? Not because it can make some strong straights, because it rarely will. But because if you flop top pair with it, you will either have TPTK or TP with a jack kicker, which will often be best.

But imagine that the guy in the hand with you has AQ. Now if you flop an ace, you have dogshit. You must hit your jack to beat the guy. You have three "outs" to do that (there are three jacks in the deck that will make two pair for you and beat his TPQK). AQ dominates AJ. Formally, if you have fewer than three outs preflop against another hand, that hand dominates you.

(For simplicity's sake, we might write that AQ > AJ. The greater than sign just means "beats". There isn't a symbol for "dominates".)

Some hands are very prone to domination. KJ is a good example. It's a hand many beginners overrate, but think. When you hit your hand, and someone gives you action, are you going to be winning or losing? Well, sometimes they will have hands you dominate, like QJ/KT. But if the action is heavy, you are often up against KQ/AK/AJ, all hands people like to play. You are also dominated by JJ and KK, and of course by AA, which dominates all other starting hands. Note that bigger pairs dominate smaller pairs because the smaller pair has only two outs to beat the bigger one. That puts you in terrible "shape" (we say you're in bad shape if your hand is "way behind" another hand or range; in good shape if you are "way ahead" of another hand or range).

Note that although AK beats 72, it doesn't dominate it. 72 can win against AK by hitting one of six cards in the deck. Indeed, you are better off having 72 vs AK than you are having AQ! You'd generally consider AQ a strong hand, but do you see how that changes depending on what the other guy has?

Try to avoid domination. How? Don't call raises with hands that can be "easily dominated". If an early raiser is "tight" (does not play many hands), do not call with AJ. His "range" (the cards he is likely to have) includes AK-AQ, but not hands you in turn dominate like AT-. You don't want to play AJ against this range, because you have to get lucky to beat him. Against some players, you could "outplay" them postflop (use your superior skills and handreading ability to bluff them off their better hand) but there's not much scope for that in STTs. Don't call large raises with small pairs. You will sometimes be ahead, but not much. And when you're behind, you're dominated, and will rarely catch up.

Having understood that hand strength is relative and changes on each street, and that position in a list is not the whole story, we can move onto starting hands.

***

Actually, quick note about another phenomenon to be aware of (I will write more about it when we discuss implied odds and reverse implied odds): reverse domination. Imagine that you hold AQ and the flop comes 963r. Someone bets small. You might call. You have six outs to beat top pair (three aces and three queens) and often they'll be "good" (will actually make you the best hand; outs do not always make you a winner, and sometimes you must discount them for various reasons: we'll talk about that later, but not in great detail, because, frankly, you could play STTs at a low limit without ever calculating pot odds). But what is the other guy has Q9 or A9. Now you have only three outs, but do not know it! You had the guy dominated before the flop, but now he dominates you. This is reverse domination. It's one good reason not to call small bets with "overcards" (cards bigger than the flop). Some of the time, the other guy will have paired his rag kicker but will have a big card to go with it. This is particularly true with aces. More usually, the flop would be A93r, so you have TPQK, a decent hand, but are reverse dominated by A9/A3. There's nothing to be done in those cases. Against most players, you are "going broke" (putting all your chips in and risking getting busted) in this spot.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Lesson: hand rankings

Date: Thu, Apr 24, 2008 Internet

This is how the hands rank, from lowest to highest:

1/ The worst hand in holdem is 75432. Seven high.
2/ All unpaired hands come next, ranked by the order of their highest card A6432 beats KQJ32. (Note that A5432 is actually a straight, known as a "wheel" or a "bike".)
3/ Pairs are next. They rank from 22 up to AA. When we say "top pair", we mean the best possible pair on the flop. On a flop of K32, top pair is a pair of kings. If you and your opponent both have the same pair, they are distinguished by the highest side card, or kicker. On that flop, if you hold AK, you have "top pair, top kicker", known as "TPTK". If you have second kicker (a queen in this instance), you have TP2K. If you have a small card, or "rag", you have TPNK. N = "no". TPMK is "top pair, meh kicker". That generally means one you don't think beats your opponent's.
4/ Two pair is next. They rank from 3322 up to AAKK. Note that it's only the bigger pair that counts unless you both have the same bigger pair. AA33 beats KKQQ, and AAQQ beats AA33. If you both have AAQQ, your kicker will play. Say the board is AQQ3 and you have A9. Your hand now reads "AAQQ9". You would beat A8, but you are "behind" AT. We say we are "ahead of" hands or "ranges" that we are beating, and "behind" ones we are losing to. Why ranges? Well, we don't know what the others have, but we can put them on ranges. We know the kinds of hands they play, so we figure they have a range. Our hand can be beating that range, or some of that range. Even if you are only beating some of what he might have, you can be "ahead of his range". This is an important concept in poker and particularly in STTs.
5/ Next is three of a kind. If this is made with two in your hand (known as a "pocket pair" or "PP", because your two "downcards" are your "pocket cards" or "hole cards"), this is usually called a "set"; if only with one in your hand, usually "trips". But people mix this up a lot and a lot of people call sets trips. Doesn't matter. What does matter is that you grasp that a set is much stronger than trips on the whole. A set is a very strong hand, nearly always. Trips not always.
6/ Next is a straight, any five cards in consecutive order. Straights rank from A2345 (the wheel is the lowest straight even though aces are the highest cards, you'll note), up to TJQKA. 56789 is a straight. TJQKA is called "Broadway" and the cards that make it up are often called "Broadways". KT is a Broadway hand. Sometimes we'll say a player is calling with "any two Broadways". Couple of things to note with straights. They are much stronger when they are made with both your holecards. If you hold AK on a QJT board, you have a very strong hand. If you have 62 on a 4578 board, you have a straight but it's not so strong. Also, you can have different ends of the straight. If you hold T7 and the board is J98, you are beaten by QT. If you hold 73 and the board is 89TJ, you do not always have a strong hand, even though you have a straight, because any Q has a bigger hand.
7/ Next is a flush. Five cards of the same suit. Again, they rank from seven high up to an ace, and what counts is your highest card.
8/ Next is a full house or a "full boat" or just "boat". Sometimes when you're drawing and make your hand, we'll say you "filled up" or "filled your straight" or "boated up". It all means you made your draw. A full house is three of one rank, a pair of another. Only the top rank counts when you compare fulls, unless you have the same, then the pair plays. On a TTT37 board, 88 beats 87, although both have fulls. It's always worth bearing in mind that the other guy can be holding a pocket pair that makes him a bigger boat, even though you've boated up.
9/ Next is quads, four of a kind. Sometimes, your kicker will play here, but only when there are four of a kind on the board, obviously. If you have quads using your hole cards, no one else can have it!
10/ Next is a straight flush, which is a flush made from consecutive cards. You'll rarely see these, and they're nearly always well hidden.
11/ Best of all is a royal flush, which is a Broadway straight flush. If you have one, try not to pee your pants.

A couple of things to note. Pocket pairs are great starting hands because pairs beat all unpaired hands, and unpaired hands make most of the outcomes that your holecards can expect.

We often contrast "made" hands with "draws". A made hand is one that beats an unpaired hand. Often it just means a pair. A draw is usually a hand that currently cannot beat a made hand but could if it "improved".

On this board, KT9, K3 is a made hand. It is a pair of kings. Your kicker is awful though, so you have TPNK. On the same board, AQ is "drawing". Draws are often to strong hands like straights, but note that if these two hands are against each other, an ace will make AQ the better hand. If the turn is an ace, AQ has "caught up". If the turn is a jack, AQ has "drawn out" on K3. Because there is now no card on the river that can make K3 better than AQ, K3 is "drawing dead". If you have some, but little, chance of drawing out, we might say you're "drawing slim".

Some more terminology. We use capitals for the Broadway cards, numbers for the "rags". We sometimes use "s" "h" "c" "d" for the suits. Note though that As7s is different from A7s. The first is precisely ace of spades, seven of spades. The second is Ac7c/Ad7d/Ah7h/As7s. We call it a "suited ace".

If the flop is KsTs3s, it's "monotone". As7s is the strongest possible hand. It's the "nut flush".

If the flop is KsTs3d, it's "twosuited". KK is the strongest holding in the pocket here, making a set of kings. KT is also very strong, making two pair. QJ has a draw that will be filled at either end by an A or a 9. We call this an "openended straight draw", or OESD. Q9 will make a straight if a J comes. The J is not at the end of the straight but "inside" it, so Q9 has an "inside straight draw" or a "gutshot straight draw", or gutshot, gutter, gutty, GS. Q3 has another weak draw, which is called a "backdoor straight draw". It will need to "catch perfect" on the turn and river to make a straight. That doesn't often happen. On this flop, As7s has a draw to a flush. Any spade will make a flush, and because it would be the best flush if it made, it's the "nut flush draw".

If the flop is Ks7h3d, it's "rainbow". We might write that K73r. This flop is "dry" because there are not many draws possible. 65/54 have gutshots but that's it. On this board, the best possible hand in the pocket is KK, and 77/33 are very strong. You would rarely lose with any of those. K7 and K3 would also be very strong. K7 would make "top two". 73 makes "bottom two". It's not as strong because any king can easily "draw out" by "hitting its kicker", IOW, by pairing the sidecard. Note that if the turn and river paired, any K now beats 73. This is very frustrating and happens a lot.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

1K

Date: Wed, Apr 23, 2008 Internet

When I first started to learn to play STTs, I said that I would play a thousand $5 games and if I was going well, I'd believe I could win at them. I moved up before I'd done a thousand, but I still play them from time to time when I'm working.

I have finally made the thousand mark and, whatever happens to me in poker, I will know that I made at least one goal, which was to win at the $5s.

So I do. I can be certain of that. In 1K games, I have made 34.7% ROI. Given that I mostly play these while I'm doing other things, rarely playing any attention, it's pretty decent.

I've won 169 of them (tenhanded, which most have been, par is 100) and placed in 422 (par is 300; if I only played regulars or paid more attention, I daresay I'd make the money a bit more often, but I don't, and this is still mroe than respectable). It was thrilling to win the first and I still love to win. Sadly, I didn't win the 1Kth. I made a bad play and came second. But I have learned a lot in playing them, and from all the sources I use to improve. I have ups and downs but I take comfort in knowing that I am at least winning at poker. The $20 I deposited way back when is still in the game, still increasing bit by bit.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Snapping off the blu... oh shit

Date: Mon, Apr 21, 2008 Internet

Here's something I hate.

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-65984467-41
played at "Palembang" for USD TC from 2008-04-21 21:21 until 2008-04-21 21:22
Seat 5: rabidbunny2 ($915 in chips)
Seat 6: cashmomma19 ($2,380 in chips)
Seat 8: protools775 ($3,215 in chips)
Seat 9: Dr Zen ($3,585 in chips)
Seat 10: rand23 ($4,905 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
protools775 posts blind ($75), Dr Zen posts blind ($150).

PRE-FLOP
rand23 folds, rabidbunny2 folds, cashmomma19 folds, protools775 calls $75, Dr Zen checks.

I have K8. Not worth raising. Villain is a bit loose so he can have quite a wide range here.


FLOP [board cards: 4C TD JC ]
protools775 checks, Dr Zen bets $200, protools775 calls $200.

Both missed, so I bet out. I'd expect villain to bet if he hit the J or T and he might fold a 4. When he calls, his most likely hand is a flush draw, but some players like to get cute if they think you're aggro, so he can have a made hand some of the time.

TURN [board cards: 4C TD JC 2S ]
protools775 checks, Dr Zen checks.

I check behind because I had my stab and I don't mind taking a free card.

RIVER [board cards: 4C TD JC 2S JH ]
protools775 bets $150, Dr Zen calls $150.

Easy call. This is nearly always a bluff from the missed draw. And it was in this instance too. Sadly, the other guy had Ac9c.

His play makes no sense. He's strong enough to raise pre. Maybe he was "trapping". Doing that against a big stack is a bit dumb, but if there were no dumb players, I'd never make a cent.

On the flop, betting is good for him. If I had limped, it's the kind of flop I might have hit, but I probably missed with a random hand and will fold.

On the turn, it's okay to check I suppose, but on the river, the bet is terrible. It's just so obviously a bluff. He presumably didn't bet the turn because he thought I had a pair, and I'm never folding a pair to a minbet. A J bets more because it fears losing value, and I can be fairly certain he doesn't have one anyway, given that he didn't raise the flop or bet the turn.

In the end I played the guy heads up. But he way outstacked me and had the rub of the green. Oh well.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Stop and oh fuck

Date: Tue, Apr 15, 2008 Internet

You don't see the stopngo all that often at the low levels. Sometimes when someone is short, they'll call a raise pre and push the rest on any flop. But you don't often see it deeper. I don't know whether this guy had the intention of doing it preflop. His call is pretty atrocious if he didn't.


Seat 1: VasilisSk ($1,961 in chips)
Seat 2: Thorgal xxx ($2,177 in chips)
Seat 3: Pavlicker ($2,420 in chips)
Seat 5: nazca x ($2,322 in chips)
Seat 7: tbear16 ($1,635 in chips)
Seat 10: Dr Zen ($4,485 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
Thorgal xxx posts blind ($75), Pavlicker posts blind ($150).

I have A9o. Not a monster but still worth a raise to steal the blinds.


PRE-FLOP
nazca x folds, tbear16 folds, Dr Zen bets $400, VasilisSk folds, Thorgal xxx folds, Pavlicker calls $250.

FLOP [board cards: 5C 9H 6C ]
Pavlicker bets $2,020 and is all-in, Dr Zen calls $2,020.

I snapcall with TPTK and he shows QJ. I knew he couldn't have a hand as good as pair+FD because I had the 9c.

Would I have folded on a board I missed? Probably, although I guess I might just call on a twoflush board.

Anyway, he didn't help any and that ended his tourney. Frankly, folding preflop is the best move in his spot. Even if you flop a pair, I have you dominated often, and if you don't, you have to hope I didn't already have one and am prepared to give up when you bet. I think it's a bit of a parlay. Not the worst spot for it, but meh. With a pair, maybe okay, but still, he's a bit deep, so reshoving might be better if he wants to make a play.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Head's fucked

Date: Thu, Apr 10, 2008 Internet

Now this would have to be the unluckiest HU ever:

Seat 4: mandolinchen ($2,860 in chips)
Seat 9: Dr Zen ($12,140 in chips)

mandolinchen is a very bad player, with a specific flaw in her game. She's way too aggressive when she hits the flop.

But there's not much flopping in this HU.

First hand, I have 86s and push. mandolinchen is a fairly tight player so I expect her to fold nearly everything. Wrong. She calls with J8s and doubles up. That's pretty bad, but fair enough. Her call is good vs ATC, which is what I'm shoving there. Not that she knows that, but that was accidentally good.

So we trade blinds a couple of hands, then:

Seat 4: mandolinchen ($5,420 in chips)
Seat 9: Dr Zen ($9,580 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
Dr Zen posts blind ($150), mandolinchen posts blind ($300).

I have 99. I've raised a couple of times, so I don't have to have a great hand here, but there's no reason to think I don't have some sort of values.

PRE-FLOP
Dr Zen bets $600, mandolinchen bets $5,120 and is all-in

Woah.

Dr Zen calls $4,670.

Given that she called with J8s, I don't think she necessarily has a hand, so I snapcall. I am obviously good against her range.

She shows K5. I hate her play. I'm probably calling with a lot of the hands I raised with, and she isn't beating much that calls. Well, nothing at all, actually.

FLOP [board cards: AS 7H 3H ]


TURN [board cards: AS 7H 3H 4C ]


RIVER [board cards: AS 7H 3H 4C KD ]

OMG.

Oh well. I can still beat her, right? I'll just forget that she now outstacks me because she made a very loose call with a hand that she couldn't expect to be better than mine and made a horrible push and sucked out when a 25/75 dog.

So for a few hands I have nothing at all, which is not helping, then I pick up AJ and push:

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-65068792-79
played at "Innsbruck" for USD TC from 2008-04-10 01:47 until 2008-04-10 01:48
Seat 4: mandolinchen ($11,440 in chips)
Seat 9: Dr Zen ($3,560 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
Dr Zen posts blind ($150), mandolinchen posts blind ($300).

PRE-FLOP
Dr Zen bets $3,410 and is all-in, mandolinchen calls with Ad4c.

Her call is okay. I'm shoving pretty wide there, so calling with an ace is fine. But I'm delighted because I have her dominated.

But do you think domination will be enough. Relive the board with me and enjoy watching one of those truly painful suckouts that I have been on the receiving end of so many times lately.

FLOP [board cards: 3C 5C 8D ]

I know I will lose. She has a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw.

TURN [board cards: 3C 5C 8D 9C ]

Now it's certain. She has the flush draw.

RIVER [board cards: 3C 5C 8D 9C JC ]

Yes, PokerRoom's random number generator has a sense of humour too, providing me with a pair on the river.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

more wtf

Date: Thu, Apr 10, 2008 Internet

Okay, so I played this badly, but wtf?

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-65066560-30
played at "Stettin" for USD TC from 2008-04-09 23:02 until 2008-04-09 23:04
Seat 2: psychoberger ($5,540 in chips)
Seat 4: Du_baralho ($1,540 in chips)
Seat 7: rodfantini ($1,860 in chips)
Seat 9: Dr Zen ($2,550 in chips)
Seat 10: watt.1000 ($3,510 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
Dr Zen posts blind ($50), watt.1000 posts blind ($100).

PRE-FLOP
psychoberger calls $100, Du_baralho folds, rodfantini folds, Dr Zen calls $50, watt.1000 checks.

I have KQs, so I'll see a flop.

FLOP [board cards: 8S 8H KS ]
Dr Zen checks, watt.1000 checks, psychoberger bets $300, Dr Zen calls $300, watt.1000 folds.

He's most likely bluffing, but raising could put me in a tough spot. My hand will be good a lot if I show it down, so that's what I will do. He could also have KJ, but I don't want to gamble.

Probably should have done though.

TURN [board cards: 8S 8H KS 9H ]
Dr Zen checks, psychoberger checks.

Okay. I hoped he would bet again, but that's okay.

RIVER [board cards: 8S 8H KS 9H JH ]
Dr Zen checks, psychoberger bets $500, Dr Zen calls $500.

I am scared that he has KJ, but he can have nothing at all, KT, J9, all of which I beat...

SHOWDOWN
psychoberger shows [ QC TC ]

... or he can have made a runner runner straight.

I mean wtf? I am running out of bizarre ways to lose money.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

Date: Wed, Apr 9, 2008 Internet

Sometimes, you get the feeling that the world just hates you.


TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-65066295-7
played at "Nzerekore" for USD TC from 2008-04-09 22:23 until 2008-04-09 22:24
Seat 1: Doum_Toup ($1,545 in chips)
Seat 2: nightdoctor ($1,270 in chips)
Seat 3: Dr Zen ($1,480 in chips)
Seat 4: Ms Croft ($255 in chips)
Seat 5: marsblazin ($1,480 in chips)
Seat 6: dimah1983 ($1,310 in chips)
Seat 7: NCarrick ($1,650 in chips)
Seat 8: zoidbear ($1,380 in chips)
Seat 9: hairli777 ($1,760 in chips)
Seat 10: token x ($2,870 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
nightdoctor posts blind ($15), Dr Zen posts blind ($30).

I have 8h7h.

PRE-FLOP
Ms Croft folds, marsblazin calls $30, dimah1983 calls $30, NCarrick folds, zoidbear folds, hairli777 folds, token x bets $90, Doum_Toup folds, nightdoctor folds, Dr Zen calls $60, marsblazin folds, dimah1983 calls $60.

I should just fold, but the raiser clearly doesn't have a clue (didn't bet enough) and both limpers will probably call. And I'm feeling frisky.

FLOP [board cards: 5H 2H 5S ]
Dr Zen checks, dimah1983 bets $150, token x folds, Dr Zen calls $150.

Hard to know what dimah has here. Maybe a pair?

Anyway, he didn't bet enough for me to fold my flush draw.

TURN [board cards: 5H 2H 5S 8S ]
Dr Zen checks, dimah1983 bets $225, Dr Zen calls $225.

I pick up a pair too, so I'm definitely not folding.

RIVER [board cards: 5H 2H 5S 8S 9H ]

Yeehah.

Dr Zen bets $1,015 and is all-in, dimah1983 calls $845 and is all-in.

Don't tell me he was betting all along with a flush draw!


SHOWDOWN
Dr Zen shows [ 8H 7H ]
dimah1983 shows [ 5C 9C ]

Sweet fucking Jesus.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Why not call with A4s?

Date: Tue, Apr 8, 2008 Internet

Just in case anyone stumbles on this blog who doesn't understand poker too well and is confused why I think it is bad that a guy calls a raise with A4s, this is why.

We were at t100. I had 2500 chips. I raised to 300. The most you can win from me if you get lucky is 2500 chips. So you are at best taking 2650/200 (my stack 2500 plus blinds of 150 vs your call) odds that Ah4h ends up the best hand against whatever I had.

Let's assume that you know nothing about me. You haven't been paying attention and you just have to assume I'm a standard donk. I don't have a huge stack but it was folded to me in the cutoff. Most players will not raise too wide a range, maybe 55+, A9+, KJ+. That's a bit wider than I'd raise, as it happens.

I can have bigger aces 12 ways, the king high hands 16 ways and pairs 6 ways.

If we flop it ace high, I'll probably cbet KQ/KJ and you can call that, planning to trap me for more bets later in the hand. But I won't bet again and you'll fold me out on the river. Same with pairs. My cbet is likely to be about 300. I won't always make it, particularly with better pairs because they have showdown value.

So let's say I cbet with 55-99, KQ and KJ. That's 62 hands that make you 300 chips each.

But I'll also bet all my ace-high hands. I have 60 of those. Oh dear. And you are getting stacked by them unless you have flopped A4. You'll do that about 1.5 per cent of the time (because I hold one of your "outs"). Some small amount of the time, I will outredraw you. If you're not stacked on A high flops, you're going to lose at least 300.

You'll flop a flush less than another percent.

About 11 per cent of the time you flop a flush draw. But you only make it one in three times and you'll pay to do it. You won't have much in the way of implied odds, because with pairs I'm not going to pay you off too often when I let you draw to the river.

The rest of the time you're going to fold. You can continue to chase your ace if you like. Some players will float the flop and bet any turn, hoping that they catch out a cbettor. This is rare though, but I will usually bet a bit more than the books tell you to when I cbet (and cbet a bit less often) so that my cbets are not so obvious that a bold LAGgy type can pick them off. I also tend to bet the same amount with a made hand. Not that they're paying attention, but it helps me not to get into a groove.

Add all those figures up and you're losing most of that 300 when you call. Now the guy had me covered by quite a bit, and probably felt he was gambling, trying to bust me. A lot of players, that's their attitude. Call with hands that can make huge hands and win huge pots. But I just don't have enough chips for that. I don't have a 100BB stack even, so your implied odds are fairly small. As I said, 8 to 1 at best. And to stack me I have to hit when you do. I just won't all that often. How often when you flop that flush do I hit my kicker? (I can't hit my ace obv.) My ability at probability is not sufficient to work it out, but the answer has to be "not often".

So the reason is that I'm not deep enough. He actually has an easy fold. He is dominated about half the time, and will miss the flop most of the rest of the time. For himself, the rewards are not great enough for the risk he takes. But isn't busting someone good for him?

Well yes, but not all that good. He will take my chips but he doesn't get my equity. He hands a portion of that to everyone else who didn't call, but watched him do it. In fact, he cannot even consider his call to pay 13/1 because it might do that in chips, but it doesn't in dollars. I guess recreational players are not so interested in the dollars though.

Of course, he is not even getting 13/1. This is not 54s or 66, hands with which you will make your hand and win a stack possibly or just fold the flop. This is A4s. When you're figuring what your chances are, you have to take into account that if you are dumb enough to call a 3x raise with ace rag, you are going to be dumb enough to stack off with it when we flop it ace high.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Lesson to learn

Date: Tue, Apr 8, 2008 Internet

This sort of thing is infuriating, and you can imagine that it chips away at your ROI.

I don't know the villain in this hand, but I suspect he's not very good.

TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-64904151-25
played at "Erlangen" for USD TC from 2008-04-07 23:00 until 2008-04-07 23:01
Seat 2: jpa313 ($2,155 in chips)
Seat 3: Dr Zen ($1,360 in chips)
Seat 4: xKyyx ($1,926 in chips)
Seat 5: morillon23 ($2,231 in chips)
Seat 6: carlosher ($4,673 in chips)
Seat 7: scrjuergen ($1,325 in chips)
Seat 10: BROWN.ACE ($1,330 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
jpa313 posts blind ($25), Dr Zen posts blind ($50).

PRE-FLOP
xKyyx folds, morillon23 folds, carlosher folds, scrjuergen folds, BROWN.ACE folds, jpa313 calls $25, Dr Zen checks.

I have JTo. That's a decent enough hand for the BB, and should be ahead if I flop top pair.

FLOP [board cards: 2H TH 9D ]
jpa313 checks, Dr Zen bets $60, jpa313 calls $60.


Which I do. I bet about 2/3 pot. A flush draw won't fold and I guess most straight draws won't either, but you don't want to put too much more in with a marginal hand.

TURN [board cards: 2H TH 9D 8C ]
jpa313 checks, Dr Zen bets $100, jpa313 calls $100.

The turn improves my hand slightly. I'm putting this guy on a heart draw at this point. I bet enough that he should fold it.


RIVER [board cards: 2H TH 9D 8C AH ]
jpa313 checks, Dr Zen checks.

So the draw just came in. I'm glad to check behind.

Basically, if he had the flush draw, I get out cheaply. If he has paired or started with a low pair, I'm going to be ahead but I don't fancy the value bet (even though flushes usually bet here, afraid you will check behind). I suppose QT may not have raised, but generally TP with a decent kicker is going to put more money in somewhere in that hand.

SHOWDOWN
jpa313 shows [ AD JD ]

WTF?

Dr Zen mucks cards [ JC TS ]
jpa313 wins $420.

That's how it goes, I suppose. His play is atrocious on every street. I don't like his limp preflop, his call on the flop is bad and the one on the turn worse. To compound matters, he didn't even put in a bet when he made his hand.

See, this guy will lose money at poker. I guarantee it. No matter what he plays, what stakes, what game, he will lose. This is how I know. On the turn, he is 6.7 to 1 to hit his OCs. He doesn't know I have a jack. Assume I don't. Assume his outs will make his hand good. There is 320 in the pot and he has to call 100 to win it. He's being offered 3.2 to 1.

The bet is a losing proposition for him unless he can make up some value on the river. But if he doesn't bet when he hits, he just won't do that.

He doesn't know any of that, of course. He just thinks "I have overcards and I'll win if I hit them". The fun of the game for him is trying to get ITM in the STTs that he plays, fairly rarely probably. To me, not wanting to win, and not wanting to have the tools to win, even in the most rudimentary way, is inexplicable.

And you know, I should win money in poker. I mean, I am winning money, but I should continue to do so. Because I understand what he did wrong and I don't make that same mistake. I make others, but this guy wouldn't even understand why they are mistakes.

I made one later in the tourney. I double up when I raise 3x with QQ and some guy calls, pairs on the flop and then calls a push.

But I lose it all in a very tough hand.

I have AT and raise to 3x. A player who has me covered but I'm not sure I've seen do anything calls.

The flop comes T high, three hearts. He checks, I bet a decent amount, enough that I can push the turn. He calls.

His call doesn't mean anything much. His most likely hands are a pair and Ahx. He might have both for the combo draw. The turn is a blank and I push.

You know, it's not that some guy who called a suited ace-rag hit his flush. It's that I hit the flop fairly decently too.

I know he can have a flush. Against a better player, I'd expect him to have it more often, because other hands that I put in his range would likely get it in on the flop, hoping to use their fold equity to make them a decent favourite in the hand. When he calls on the flop, his range is not just flushes or anything like it, but I bet decently to define my hand, and I think that I should have read the oracle. The key concept that I ignored was that if you make an action for a purpose, you should not just ignore the outcome if you have no other information. I was betting for value, but at the top end of the range I'd consider betting because I felt that it should allow me to have a better idea of what I was up against. Curiously, as soon as he called, I was thinking "JJ". And I still pushed the turn! (Clearly, I figure Ahx will call the push, particularly if it has paired its kicker.) Checking behind on the turn would have forced him to bet out on the river though, and that would have allowed me to stay in the tourney. (If he bet small, I call but I keep some of my stack; if he bet big, I can get away from it.) Okay, I give a free card to flush draws, but in retrospect, that's probably not such a bad idea because they'll likely put money in on the river if they miss/have only a pair. (Which is why I call small bets on the river.)

This is what tilt does. I can see clearly how I played the hand wrongly, but I couldn't slow down when actually playing it and think it through. To be fair to myself, I don't think I've been playing all that badly. I really have been getting big hands cracked and losing when I'm ahead an awful lot. And I do make mistakes anyway, of course.

Oh well, it's another lesson, I suppose.

Read Full Poker Blog Post