Thursday, May 23, 2013

"When We Held Kings" - The oral history of the 2003 World Series of Poker

This link was brought to my attention by pokerlistings.com.  It's about the Chris Monkeymaker effect - it's a complete detail of the 2003 WSOP and how it all went down.  Interesting read if you have 30 minute or so - a worthy way to spend some time.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9286395/view/full/the-oral-history-2003-world-series-poker-which-chris-moneymaker-turned-39-25-million

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Variance at the PLO tables

I've been playing a bit of PLO (pot limit omaha) lately, to give myself a change of pace.  I still haven't built up the courage to solidly 2 table or more; I'm still adjusting to simply the hand reading aspect and figuring out my own equity... much less introducing more complexity by adding more tables and hands to sort through.

The following hand leaves me -300 for the night:

Hand #7354006-231 - 2013-05-22 00:11:05
Game: PL Omaha (20 - 100) - Blinds 0.50/1
Site: Seals With Clubs
Table: PLO 6max .5/1 #2
Seat 1: Player1 (96)
Seat 2: DONKEY (456.48) - 100/50 in my estimation
Seat 3: AveragePlayer1 (105.15)
Seat 4: LAG1 (1010.15)
Seat 5: Hero (100)
Seat 6: AveragePlayer2 (196.21)
AveragePlayer1 has the dealer button
LAG1 posts small blind 0.50
Hero posts big blind 1
** Hole Cards **
Dealt to Hero [Ad Ah 9s 4d]
AveragePlayer2 folds
Player1 folds
DONKEY raises to 3.50
AveragePlayer1calls 3.50
LAG1 calls 3
Hero raises to 17.50
DONKEY calls 14
AveragePlayer1calls 14
LAG1 calls 14
70 in the pot and 83 behind
** Flop ** [As 6d 7d] - I flop top set with the nut flush draw and 2 blockers to the up & down straight draws
LAG1 checks
Hero checks
DONKEY bets 68
AveragePlayer1raises to 87.65 (All-in)
LAG1 raises to 399.20
Hero calls 82.50 (All-in) - snap call fist pump
DONKEY raises to 438.98 (All-in)
LAG1 calls 39.78
** Turn ** [6c]
** River ** [6h]
** Side Pot 2 Show Down ** [As 6d 7d 6c 6h]
DONKEY shows [4s 5h 6s Kh] (Four of a Kind, Sixes +K)
LAG1 shows [9d 8s Ts Td] (a Full House, Sixes full of Tens)
DONKEY wins Side Pot 2 (702.66) with Four of a Kind
Rake (0)
** Side Pot 1 Show Down ** [As 6d 7d 6c 6h]
AveragePlayer1 shows [8d Qc Ac 5d] (Three of a Kind, Sixes +AQ)
DONKEY wins Side Pot 1 (15.45) with Four of a Kind
Rake (0)
** Main Pot Show Down ** [As 6d 7d 6c 6h]
Hero shows [Ad Ah 9s 4d] (a Full House, Aces full of Sixes)
DONKEY wins Main Pot (398) with Four of a Kind
Rake (2)
Got it in with HUGE equity vs. the field: 2 4's, 2 5's , 2 8's, 3 9's - 9 outs against the field - and I get runner runnered by quads...  hrmph!

Immediately followed by this hand which puts me down -400 for the night:

Hand #7354156-233 - 2013-05-22 00:14:13
Game: PL Omaha (20 - 100) - Blinds 0.50/1
Site: Seals With Clubs
Table: PLO 6max .5/1 #2
Seat 1: Player1 (96)
Seat 2: DONKEY (1186.73)
Seat 3: AveragePlayer1 (40)
Seat 4: LAG1 (548.67)
Seat 5: Hero (100)
Seat 6: sigmasquared (129.59)
Hero has the dealer button
AveragePlayer2 posts small blind 0.50
Player1 posts big blind 1
** Hole Cards **
Dealt to Hero [Ad Tc Td 8s] - I call here because DONKEY has PROVEN he only has 3 buttons: "pot" for what he believes to be his value hands, "call" for his draws, and "fold" for his rare misses
DONKEY calls 1
AveragePlayer1 calls 1
LAG1 raises to 4
Hero calls 4
AveragePlayer2 folds
Player1 calls 3
DONKEY calls 3
AveragePlayer1 calls 3
** Flop ** [8h 8d 2c] - Trip 8's with an Ace kicker; boom
Player1 checks
DONKEY checks
AveragePlayer1 checks
LAG1 checks
Hero bets 10
Player1 folds
DONKEY calls 10
AveragePlayer1 folds
LAG1 folds
** Turn ** [Ts] - It just gets better!
DONKEY checks
Hero bets 20
DONKEY calls 20 - This guy has an overpair who desperately wants to get to showdown; he doesn't understand that his overpair is no good.
** River ** [Qc]
DONKEY bets 78.50 - There's so much in his range that he's value betting thinking he's good here.  He has no problem dumping in with random 8's, so I'm not too concerned about his shove.  I think this is a snap call.
Hero calls 66 (All-in)
DONKEY refunded 12.50
** Pot Show Down ** [8h 8d 2c Ts Qc]
DONKEY shows [Qs Qd 3c Jd] (a Full House, Queens full of Eights) - 2 outted!  WTF?
Hero shows [Ad Tc Td 8s] (a Full House, Tens full of Eights)
DONKEY wins Pot (210.50) with a Full House
Rake (2)
Hero adds 100 chips

Now, as I said, I've been learning the game.  Poker is poker, and reads still are reads.  Since I've been playing live, I've improved my reads a TON.  Since there is no HUD for PLO on Seals With Clubs, I've focused on discerning hand ranges and player types.

The following are the upsides to last night, as I went on a mini heater after all the bad stuff.  A little background is that DONKEY doubled me up in the next 2 or 3 hands or so (with my bottom 2 pair vs. his TPTK AK), so I'm sitting on 200 or so chips when we get into another hand:

I have A K J 9 double suited and I raised pre.  He opts to 3bet to 12 and I think we're heads up and the flop is:
K Q 9 two spades

He leads pot ~26.
I think for a little and call; J T is a possibility, but even though he raises 50% of his hands, he 3bets rarely; like this is his second time - and AA is squarely in his range.
Turn is the 8s - bummer shitty.
To my chagrin, he pots again; 78.  If I call, I'll have 84 behind and a huge pot in the middle.  It's shove or fold time for me.  I just don't believe he has the spades, and I'm trying to collect my thoughts with regards to his ranges.  He can 3bet AA and KK holdings.  I have a K in my hand, so it's less likely for him to hold 2 K's.  He has a habit of mashing pot when he believe he has value.  He has no consideration for his opponent's hands; he's a level 1 player.  His value hands that beat me are AA K Q, AA JT, AA XX with 2 spades.  Any other AA xx hands are beat.  I opt to shove and he does not snap it off; I breath a sigh of relief - no JT, no spades.  He calls with AA xx and I double through again - 400 to finish the hand.

Then, I get into a hand where I hold AA double suited against a standard-ish player.  I raise pre and he calls; we're heads up and he has ~200 to start the hand:

7 in the pot and the flop is K J 3, rainbow.
He checks, I lead pot and he calls.

21 in the pot and the turn is a 3.
He checks and I lead pot again.  He calls

63 in the pot and the river is a J.
This time, he leads pot.  I snap it off; he can have random jacks, but I think 2 pair are going to check raise at some point in the hand - mostly the flop.  This bet does not make any sense, hence the snap call.

K J 3 3 J board and am shown A K Q T.

I'm learning.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

I made the Wednesday Big Ass Pot of the Week!

Pretty cool that someone blogged about a hand I played last week!

For reference:  http://www.bitcoinpokerblog.com/index.php?p=493

Monday, May 6, 2013

Calling with King high...

I played an interesting hand the other day.  I "played up" to 3/6 on SWC and ran into a TOTAL LAGbot who was playing a 50/30 or thereabout.  I raised KQs UTG and get him as the second caller:

(Sorry for the raw format; I don't believe there's a hand converter available just yet for SWC)

Game: NL Hold'em (120 - 600) - Blinds 3/6
Site: Seals With Clubs
Table: NLHE 9max 3/6 #1
Seat 1: a*m (1877.66)
Seat 2: A***1 (564)
Seat 3: P***a (596.33)
Seat 4: a***8 (715.91) - sitting out
Seat 5: W***a (250) - waiting for big blind
Seat 6: P***f (543)
Seat 7: M***s (571.57)
Seat 8: K**pFloppin (679.73)
Seat 9: P***o (855.26)
P***a has the dealer button
P***f  posts small blind 3
M***s posts big blind 6
** Hole Cards **
Dealt to K**pFloppin [Ks Qs]
K**pFloppin raises to 18
P***o calls 18
a*m calls 18
A***1 folds
P***a folds
P***f has timed out
P***f folds
M***s folds
** Flop ** [6h 3d 8h]
K**pFloppin bets 35 Standard cbet
P***o folds
a*m calls 35 When he calls, I'm 95% putting him on a flush draw.  He's the type that raises all hands, and has no problem stacking of top pair, which is how he's built his 1877 chip stack - aggression into the fear of the normally low stakes players.
** Turn ** [5c]
K**pFloppin checks I'm going to check for pot control just in case he shows up with something stupid.
a*m checks
** River ** [2s]
K**pFloppin checks Another blank, but it makes a backdoor 4 straight4's are in his range, but I can't ever see him checking through all the way like this.  He's got a flush draw, but the question is: is it Ace high - or worse.
a*m bets 70
K**pFloppin calls 70
** Pot Show Down ** [6h 3d 8h 5c 2s]
a*m shows [Kd Th] (High Card King +T865)
K**pFloppin shows [Ks Qs] (High Card King +Q865)
K**pFloppin wins Pot (266.18) with High Card
Rake (6.82)


By the river, he has position on me and has checked through the turn.  If he has *ANYTHING* here, he's betting the turn, as he's proven time & time again to do - in fact, I'm surprised he's not betting the turn with the naked draw.  Not only is he LAGgy, but he's aggro when he senses weakness.  I'm fairly (more than 90%) certain he's on the flush draw - the question is how good of a flush draw does he have?  He's shown to 3bet any good Ace broadways, so I can more or less discount that from his range.  I can beat all K high or worse draws.  The main concern I have is if he shows up with the Ax flush draw, or nipped a low pair.  If he nipped the low pair, I can easily see him checking through to get to showdown, but leads 70% pot; he wants to win the pot outright without a showdown.  Although the 2 completed the 4 straight, he's rarely showing up with Ah4h, the other concern (again, he didn't bet the turn).  Since there's much more to his range than Ax (50% VPIP, after all), I snap call his bluff on the river with a bit of a gulp.

He got very pissed at my snapping his bluff - he got up and left immediately.  Fun times when you can call K high and win :-).  Definitely not an everyday occurrence.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

A stupid hand at 1/2 - nutted on with nary a chance of catching up...

I had forgotten about putting a post together to detail last week's session, so I'm going by memory here:

5 hands in, I am dealt TT from the BB and raise to $14 after a host of 4 limpers (including SB).  I get 2 callers and see a Qh 7h 4 flop.  I cbet $25 and get called in one spot, an alert player who thinks he's fancy but ABC.  The turn is Th and I lead again - he took his time in calling the flop bet so I don't put him on a draw; he's got KQ or some such hand.  I lead for $50 and he INSTA-raises me all in to $200.  I call and he slams down his pocket 4's for the flopped set (with the 4h).  I show my set of T's and he proceeds to hit a heart on the river for the scoop.  Amazing part was he was genuinely surprised to be pushed the pot; he didn't realize he 4 flushed me.  Buy in down.

I'm over it.

But here's the hand that annoys me:
AK on the BTN.  I raise to $16 after 5 limps (don't remember effective stack sizes but I have $200; in reverse, I guess villain has $~100).  One caller - older tightish player.  Flop comes 3 7 7.  Checks.  I cbet $25 and he calls (60 behind).  King on the turn and I lead for $30, he c/r's all in to $60 and I pay him off with his flopped 3's full.

What annoys me is the continuing bet of $30 on the turn - I am doubting myself as to whether I should have checked through the turn and c/c the river or c/f the river.  Tight old man making a call on the flop - my thinking at the time is he has a ton of pocket pairs + x7 + set of 3's.  Him check / raising the turn all in, he *has to have a 7 or set of 3's*.  I just can't see him showing up with worse.  Sometimes, the internet play gets the better of me & I think "cooler, meh, gonna pay it off; I'm either way behind or way ahead."  I have to get out of this mindset in live play because FAR MORE FREQUENTLY THAN NOT, I'm way behind.  Even for $30 +$30 additional.

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